Quercus crispula Blume syn.Quercus mongolica var. crispula - Fagaceae - mizunara, 水楢 (Jap.), water oak, **Mizunara**

Deciduous tree, up to 30m tall, native to Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea, China); leaves obovate, dull green, sharply serrated; flowers up to 5cm long.

„Mizunara is most widely known outside Japan for its use in barrels to age Japanese and Scotch whisky. It has received international acclaim as a material that can brew a delicate flavor completely different from oak barrels… They have also become popular since the 20th century for the cultivation of shiitake mushrooms.“ [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_crispula|wikipedia]]

{{oaklactone.png| oak lactone}} [[http://www.leffingwell.com/chirality/whiskeylactone.htm|oak lactone]] 

Japanese oak wood powders (Mizu-Nara, Ishi-Nara, and Kashiwa-Nara) contained organoleptic important amounts of free and bound cis/trans β-methyl-γ-octalactone (oak lactone). \\
[Otsuka, Ken-ichi, et al. "Presence and significance of two diastereomers of β-methyl-γ-octalactone in aged distilled liquors." Agricultural and Biological Chemistry 38.3 (1974): 485-490]

Especially for Japanese oak whisky, more than 20 years are needed to develope a unique flavor, described as ‘Incense’ and ‘Coconut’. Focused on the coconut aroma compound, cis/trans β-methyl-γ-octalactone (oak lactone or whisky lactone), Japanese whiskies showed higher levels of trans-lactone. \\
[Noguchi, Yushi. The influence of wood species of casks on matured whisky aroma: identification of unique character imparted to whisky by casks constructed of Japanese oak. Diss. Heriot-Watt University, 2017]

Main components found in hexane extracts of Japanese oak wood were pentadecanoic acid (30.1%), tetradecanoic acid (1.2%), and 3-methyl-4-octanolide (oak lactone; 1.0%). \\
[Hasegawa, Toshio, et al. "Characteristic Aromas of Quercus crispula (Japanese Oak)." Natural Product Communications 13.4 (2018): 1934578X1801300424.]

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Quercus crispula, Abuta District, Hokkaido Japan (c) Jason Leung [[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/|CC BY-SA 4.0]] [[https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/254503167|inaturalist.org]]