Sqwertz wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> On Thu, 06 Apr 2017 13:57:04 -0500, cshenk wrote:
>
> > Sqwertz wrote in rec.food.cooking:
> >
> >> On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 19:50:45 -0500, cshenk wrote:
> >>
> >>> Mirin comes in many types, and is salted deliberately for taste
> and >>> cooking reasons among some of them. No relationship to USA
> 'keeping >>> people from drinking them'.
> >>
> >> Cooking wines have 2% salt added to avoid having to pay alcohol
> taxes >> (which can be quite high in some states), to allow them to
> be sold to >> minors and over state lines, to allow them to be sold
> in stores that >> may not have a beer/wine permit, and to preserve
> them for extended >> shelf life.
> >>
> >> These are the ONLY reasons they have salt added to them - taste not
> >> being one of those reasons. They cannot be used for drinking since
> >> the law requires that they be 2% salt. And you'd get a rude
> surprise >> when do you do try and drink them in any significant
> quantity. >> Unsalted mirin exists all over Japan (they probably
> don't even have a >> salted version), but here in the U.S. it is
> almost always salted so it >> can be sold without the limitations put
> on normal wine (and so people >> won't drink it).
> >>
> >> Why is this so hard to comprehend? I was actually defending your
> >> statement you made a few posts ago.
> >>
> >> -sw
> >
> > Steve, this is a Japan item. We already know why USA salts wines.
> > Some are trying to explain that isnt why some versions of Mirin are
> > salted which has ZERO relation to USA liquor laws ok?
> >
> > Most Mirin that I got out in town in Japan was lightly salted plus
> > was sweeter than saki (sugar added). It was used for cooking. It
> > was rare to get it unsalted there but I surely did find such.
> >
> > There is no relation to Japanese salting Mirin, and USA salting
> > sherry due to alcohol sales laws, only that a USA place may select
> > the salted versions due to that.
>
> True mirin in Japan is not salted and that is the majority of the
> mirin used in cooking. They also have a shio mirin (literally "salty
> mirin") that contains at least 1.5% salt and is available specifically
> to avoid Japanese taxation, but most true cooks won't use it (it's
> like a Chinese person using La Choy soy sauce, was the anaology I was
> told). The same reason it's salted in the U.S. So yes, they are
> salted for the exact same reasons.
>
> I'm done with you. This is the surely last time I ever try and defend
> one of your statements (which won't be hard since you're usually full
> of shit). Look where it got me <shaking head>.
>
> -sw

I have no clue how you think you were 'defending me' but I react only
to you insisting mirin isnt sold salted in Japan. It is and it's more
common to find that way. Reasons aside, you are making a mountain out
of a mole hill

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