Koji and Asian ferments
Domesticated molds that turn rice, soybeans and legumes into flavor.
- Recipes
- 9
- Time
- From hours to months
- Levels
- From getting good to advanced
AI
Koji is rice or barley covered in a domesticated mold, Aspergillus oryzae, which turns starch into sugar and protein into flavor. It is how miso, soy sauce, sake and amazake are made. Tempeh uses another mold, Rhizopus, which binds legumes into a firm cake.
How it works
Good molds, on their terms
Here the mold is the point, so everything depends on temperature, humidity and time. Koji and tempeh incubate for hours somewhere warm; miso spends months under plenty of salt.
The rules
- Spores bought from a reliable supplier: never grow a mold you can't identify.
- Only the colors each ferment should have. If another one shows up, throw it out.
- Weigh the salt for miso and nukazuke.
Recipes
Koji
3 recipes
Miso
3 recipes
Tempeh
2 recipes
Nukazuke
1 recipe
Problems
Other families