Koji spores (tane-koji) ✦

Spores de koji

What it is

Aspergillus oryzae was named Japan's national fungus in 2006, and the spore houses that sell it - the moyashi-ya - have been selecting strains since the Muromachi period, centuries before anyone could see one. What you buy is a green powder measured in spores per gram, not a food: it is seed for growing koji yourself.

In the kitchen

One gram of spores per kilo of dry rice: steam the rice, cool it to 35 C, inoculate, then hold at 30 C for 40 to 48 hours, breaking the mat twice to let its own heat out. Above 40 C the mould kills itself and the batch turns sour instead of sweet.

Goes with

Rice Rice koji Shio-koji Soybean Barley Miso Junmai sake Salt

Same species

Barley koji Black koji Rice koji Shio-koji

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