majji wrote:where I can get the fungus to start the process.
Thanks
I'm also interested in that question and have found similar lack of answers. This is what I think, however. The place to find the fungus is in your kitchen on food with fungus growing on it. The problem then becomes one of encouraging the particular microbe you want and then identifying it. I believe soft, boiled beans are its favorite food, but I could be wrong. Perhaps one could ask a school what medium is used to culture it?
To identify it, I guess Google images would be your best bet. Here is a picture of it growing on an ear of corn --
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mR8FYGlJD1o/T ... dycorn.jpg -- maybe grow some corn and hope it rots? :-)
Perhaps if you looked through google images you could go to the websites they are on and find some useful information. I found this site for an enzyme formula vitamin supplement ($28.95) that lists a. oryzae on the ingredient list, but I'm not sure if that means it has the live fungus in it or not. --
http://www.prasadabeauty.com/prod_one.c ... 1_holder=0The other thing you might do is buy the stuff it's made with, like koji or miso, as long as there is still some live culture in it, but I have tried that and was unsuccessful in getting a ferment from it so perhaps the koji and miso available in stores has been sterilized. I don't have any ethnic Asian stores around where I could go and ask if they have any live stuff for sale.
Peace and love,
Charlotte