Krachae or nam-khaao is a nondistilled ethnic alcoholic drink from Thailand
prepared from Thai rice using Ioogpang as a Starter (Vachanavinich et al. 1994).
During krac hue production, a local Thai rice variety is washed, soaked, cooked.
cooled, and sprinkled with loogpang powder and mixed wcll. The mixture is placed
in an earthenware jar and fcniientcd at 30ฐC—35ฐC for 2 days to which water is added.
The jar is again incubated for 3—4 days. The fermented iiiass is filtered and only the
clarified supernatant is collected, which is yellowish-white in color, effervescent, and
is now called krachae. Microorganisms in kracliae are supplemented from the ethnic
starter Ioogpang. Molds play an important role in the initial stage of fermentation
for cleaving the sugar polymers present in rice to substantial sugars, which can be
used as substrates for simultaneous fermentation by yeasts and LAB (Lotong 19X5).
Molds produce sugars from starch, and subsequently yeasts convert sugars to alcohol
(Ko 1982). LAB help in the formation of flavor and taste in krac hue (Lun l9l).