Making Koji...

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Making Koji...

Postby Aspergillus on Wed Nov 26, 2014 8:38 am

Hi everyone, I'm planning to make some rice koji but I can't buy koji-kin. So I read the book of Sandor Katz and I learned that he was able to start koji with corn husk. The problem is that corn grows only in summer in my region :| . I hope that someone could help me to do my project by telling me what other vegetable contains some spores of aspergillus oryzae and could start the koji.
Aspergillus
 
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Re: Making Koji...

Postby WWFSM on Sun Nov 30, 2014 8:15 pm

I take it you're not in the US. Are you in a country with a sake brewer, that's the best source of koji that I've found so far. Other option would be GEM culture which do ship koji spores outside the US - some of the best quality spores I'm told.

I have't tried the corn husk option yet, though I'm eager too. It's seasonal here too, so I'll have to wait till next summer.

What part of the world are you in? Some parts of the world, the koji spores are captured from the air (or so I've read).

Looking forward to reading what others have to say about which plants might be best for this.
Doing my best to be the change I want to see in the world, one meal at a time.
http://wholewheatfsm.blogspot.ca

Currently Culturing
Kombucha, perry, cider, wine (red and white), mead(s), miso, sourdough, & seasonal veg my garden gives me
WWFSM
 
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Re: Making Koji...

Postby Aspergillus on Sat Dec 06, 2014 4:21 am

Hi, thank you for responding me.
I leave in Tunisia, a country in north africa and I don't think that there's a sake brewer here. I'm just waiting for summer to get some corn, because I don't really know if I can buy the spores from GEM, I don't have paypal or a credit card with dollars and I'm not sure that they ship it in Tunisia.
Aspergillus
 
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Re: Making Koji...

Postby WWFSM on Sat Dec 06, 2014 11:36 am

Hmmm... I don't know if GEM will do it or not, but it couldn't hurt to ask them. They do ship to several countries.

Failing that, there is a service which will export to (almost) any country Japanese products from Japan. At a cost of course, but well worth it if there is no other option. http://www.japanonly.com/en/

Besides, once you have koji, you can use it to create more spores - Katz Art of Fermentation book I think covers this. In theory, you only need to import it once.

When summer comes around and you use some corn (that's corn in the american sense of the word, not corn as in grain like they say in Europe), please let us know how it turns out.

One totally out there option, not something I've done, but something my friend does when he needs specific mold cultures. Buy some unpasteurized stuff (in you case miso) and leave it out on the counter with a cloth over it (not air tight). After a few days/weeks, mold should start growing on the surface, and when it changes colour (ie fruiting bodies - yellow, green and/or blue for koji I think), he scrapes it off and mixes it in with what he wants moldy (in your case, steamed rice) cultures it to get more spores, and so on until he has enough spores to make what he wants.
Doing my best to be the change I want to see in the world, one meal at a time.
http://wholewheatfsm.blogspot.ca

Currently Culturing
Kombucha, perry, cider, wine (red and white), mead(s), miso, sourdough, & seasonal veg my garden gives me
WWFSM
 
Posts: 153
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:10 am
Location: Canada, Left Coast

Re: Making Koji...

Postby WWFSM on Wed Dec 31, 2014 11:49 pm

Doing my best to be the change I want to see in the world, one meal at a time.
http://wholewheatfsm.blogspot.ca

Currently Culturing
Kombucha, perry, cider, wine (red and white), mead(s), miso, sourdough, & seasonal veg my garden gives me
WWFSM
 
Posts: 153
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:10 am
Location: Canada, Left Coast


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