Alcohol made from wood discovered by scientists in Japan

For centuries, trees have provided mankind with daily necessities such as paper and rubber, now, scientists in Japan have discovered a new use for trees: making booze.

Since 2009, researchers at Japan's Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, have been testing out environmentally-friendly ways to disintegrate and ferment wood to make fuel, or alcohol, without using chemicals or heat. They discovered the process could be done entirely with food additives, which led them to the idea of drinkable alcohol.

Yuichiro Otsuka, a researcher at the institute, explained the process involves fermenting pulverised wood with water, yeast and enzyme and can be done in ten days, producing beverages resembling alcohol that have aged inside wooden barrels.

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Scientists in Japan found ways to ferment wood to make alcohol. The process takes about 10 days and doesn't use chemicals or heat.

So far, drinks have been made from cherry blossom, cedar and white birch trees.

The method involves pulverising wood into a creamy paste and then adding yeast and an enzyme to start the fermentation process.

By avoiding using heat, researchers say they are able to preserve the specific flavour of each tree's wood.

Four kilogrammes of cedar wood gave them 3.8 litres of liquid, with an alcohol content of around 15 percent, similar to that of Japan's much-loved sake.

Researchers experimented with both brewed and distilled versions of the new beverage, but "we think distilled alcohol appears better", researcher Kengo Magara said.

Wood fermentation is already used to produce biofuel but the product contains toxins and is flavourless, making it far from a suitable cocktail component.

"But our method can make it drinkable, and with a wood flavour, because it does not require high heat or sulphuric acid to decompose the wood," Magara said.