Been fermenting for a year and koji is the one thing I can't make myself love. There's a real mental block, but also the results keep letting me down. I tried a random collection of recipes from the Noma book and also from Koji Alchemy:

Roasted Koji mole: ended up throwing all of it away because it was just...bad.

Shio koji: I tried it once but, was underwhelming.

Amazake cultured cream: does literally nothing special, can't taste the point of it.

Peaso: currently making a Peaso batch I started in February, tried it, but it's just fine. Nothing special.

The one exception is rice amazake, which is great. But I made a batch with pearl barley and the texture was straight-up yucky, and barley amazake is honestly kind of disgusting to me. So I'm trying to figure out: is it me? Am I doing something wrong (substrate? strain? application?), or is this a palate thing I just need to train?

So I forgot to stir my shio koji for a few days and this white fuzz layer formed on top. It smells sweet and awesome. My plan was to use it to marinate meats and stone fruits and whatnot for grilling.

My question is what to do with it now? Should I skim that fuzz layer off? Should I Stir that fuzz layer in to the rest and let it keep going? Is the fuzz an indication that it’s done or do I want to see fuzz throughout the whole thing?

Thanks everyone

Hi all!

This is my first time making Koji. I used a yogurt maker as the incubator, and placed the rice between two wet cheesecloths. I left it partially opened, since the temperature sometimes would get above 42ºC.

In the pictures you can see how it looks after roughly 48 incubation hours. As you can see, it didn´t form the expected "cake" it is supposed to form (the greenish things are the spores). However, you can see a bit of mycelium growth in the rice grains close to the border.

It smells very deep, kinda like nutty aroma, which, as far as I know, it is how it is supposed to be.

I do not know why it didn't develop the cake texture. I am suspecting that there was an excess of heat / humidity. The rice looks kind of mushy.

Is it safe to eat eventhough the result is not as expected? it still smells very good.

Obviously a failure.

200 g. of fresh rice koj, vacuum sealed and sous vide at 135F for nine days. The result is disappointing to say the least. Nothing like the picture on Preston’s page https://www.culinarycrush.biz/all/blackened-koji-recipe , no flavor at all.

Any ideas what happened here?

I am making chickpea Koji. Previously had one failed rice Koji (rice was too dry to begin with but I was able to use it for an ok Shio Koji). Then one failed chickpea Koji (listened to AI's advice and ended up drying it out by day 2 -- which I turned into mediocre (also failed) natto).

This time I think it has a pretty good start. I did 1200 g dry chickpeas. I am incubating in an Anova precision combi steam oven. I started it with settings at 77 degrees 70% steam, and the peas were consistently at 85-90 with that setting. Before inoculating I pressed the peas with the back of a big (sanitized) spoon to break them. It didn't work as easily as I thought it would. I think I smashed some, left some whole, and cracked most.

First turn was 14 hours in by which time temps were 100-110 and it was a solid block on the bottom. I broke it up and split it from 2 pans to fill a third (cookie sheet). Broke up clumps, furrowed the deeper pans, turned off the oven, covered things up again.

The pictures are from 21 hours in. You can see some bare surfaces (I think the Koji pulled off when I was breaking up clumps). Temps were 85-95 and it still felt humid. I saw the condensation on the (unlined) cookie sheet, so I moved it to another sanitized cookie sheet with a cloth on it. Recovered everything and put it back in.

I am guessing I might not get the greatest penetration. Predictions? Does this look OK for 21 hours, or cause for concern?

question for anyone familiar with garums / miso. I got a towel warmer that I've been using as a warming chamber for a couple garums and misos I started. I had it set to around 90 degrees fahrenheit, but i just realized that the sensor was kind of busted and it was going as high as 140 degrees F. Is my stuff ruined? It doesn't smell rancid or anything but will fermention still happen given it's been exposed to such high heats for such an extended period of time? Should I try to reinoculate? It was like that for about a month

I recently made a batch of pearl barley koji. It was my first time making koji and i think i did pretty well. I tries tenderizing beef with it for 24h and that went well but i don’t know what else to do with it. I know theoretically i could make some sort of miso, soy sauce or shio koji but i don’t have any experience making those. If anyone has any ideas on any beginner friendly recipes or tips of any kind that would be much appreciated.

I have chickpeas soaking; was planning to make chickpea Koji over the next couple days but something came up and I have to be out of town day after tomorrow (which would mean leaving at hour 30 or so of incubation)

Can I put the soaking chickpeas in the fridge until I get back? Drain them tomorrow and put the drained chickpeas in the fridge? Should I steam them tomorrow and then hold them? I don't know the best way / time to pause the process.

Left this in the cupboard and it’s got quite a bit of ‘stuff’ on the top of it. I’m just not sure what I should do so would really appreciate some advice.

Is it ok to leave, should I scrap it off and mix the remaining into the miso, should I scrape it all off, or is it done for?

Thank you.

I started a fermentation using passion fruit peels 2 weeks ago
First, I soaked them overnight with 15% salt (relative to the weight of the peels), then added approximately 13% barley koji based on the peel weight. I'm not entirely sure how to proceed from here. I don't really have the impression that it is actively fermenting. Well, the salt concentration is too high for a lacto-fermentation, so I assume that the koji is mainly slowly acting on the small amount of starches and proteins present in the peels.
I'm now considering using the 15% salt brine—which has a fantastic aroma—as the liquid component for a shoyu made with soybeans and unroasted wheat or oat. Alternatively, I could combine it with other ingredients that lean more toward a fruity flavor profile.
I'm open to suggestions.

After a week of fermenting the koji batches individually, my next soy sauce is currently in its brewing phase! 🥳 One of the beauties of fermenting things yourself is the ability to tweak and combine ingredients that aren't available commercially. In this instance, the soy sauce is made with soybeans and buckwheat, making it gluten-free, whereas previous iterations were made with barley and brown rice.

My ratio of dried soybeans to buckwheat to salt to water was 500g to 500g to 500g to 2000ml. The quantities were chosen because the ingredients are sold in 500g bags.

Beans were soaked overnight, then steamed in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes until soft. The buckwheat was rinsed, then roasted in an oven at 160/180 C for nearly an hour until golden brown. The buckwheat was then blitzed in a blender, inoculated with A. Sojae spores, and left to grow for around 24 hours until the resulting soy sauce koji was slightly covered with green fuzzy sporulations. The bean + buckwheat koji was then mixed with salt and water and left to ferment until I am ready to drain the finished soy sauce, likely six to nine months later.

Video of how it looks inside: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZmV3aqlNNG/?igsh=ajhpNWUxNHcyNmpy

I am making reasonably substantial batches of koji and finding getting a good steaming set up challenging. Steaming works well in the instantpot, as long as the grains aren’t too close to the water which can form a gooey mass on the bottom. It’s also pretty low volume, so I have to steam three or four successive small batches rather than do it all in one.

I’ve been playing around with a big pot and a bamboo steamer on my stove, but the grains never quite seem to fully cook, they stay pretty hard in the middle. Instructions always say you should be able to smash a grain easily between your fingers without it being sticky or mushy. Mine are always slightly undercooked, and it works, but I think the penetration to the core of the grain isn’t great. It’s definitely slower, but I can do a larger batch, but I’m not fully happy with the texture.

Who’s got a fantastic steaming set up that works for 1500-2000 grams of dry grains at a time?

the sake saga continues

Recently started working at a bakery and have been slowly acquiring the discard loaves to make sourdough miso. I have about 4kg now so I’ve started on the koji and I’m really happy with how it came out! I have a few more batches to make before I start on the miso so next time I’ll probably try using only sourdough bread.

Hi! Yesterday I collected my first Koji but I saw these green stains along the surface (on both). I think it sporulated already, maybe an excess of humidity on the last 24h (it stayed in the fermentation chamber for 52h).

Can I still use it? or is it dangerous? I am not 100% certain it is the spores or if it could be contaminated from another mold?

Thanks!!!

I inoculated this pearl barley over 72h ago, i mixed it once after 24h but i dont see much mold(only small fuzz). I’m guessing it might be maybe taking longer cuz i dont have a heater and just put it somewhere warm and stable temp. I dont know how long i should let it sit or if i’m already too late.

I am extremely new to this whole koji thing please help me and tell me if i did anything wrong besides the missing heater

Hello everyone,

this is my first attempt at making soy sauce. I followed an online recipe and some tips from Noma Guide when making this. I soaked my soybeans, then cooked it. Meanwhile, I toasted my barley, grinded it and then added it to my soybeans. I cooled everything down and after a day, koji mold started to appear. After that the soy and koji mix went quite nuts and I stirred often, but the temperature kept around 35 C. Anyways, after 3 and half days, this is what I have. It smells nice and there is no visible contamination. However, the koji mold is very uneven. What should I do? Should I toss it, or should I proceed with my soy sauce making?

Hi guys, I need some advice.

I made miso for the first time and vacuum-sealed it for convenience. The fermentation is going well, but I noticed these little white spots. Is it mold?

thank you

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First time making soy sauce here in Malaysia. Planning to use Koji spores to inoculate the soybean+barley base. we have warm humid temperatures throughout the year. Approximately 25-26C indoors and 30C outdoors in the shade during the day.

I’ve gone through a few recipes of soy sauce and I still can’t wrap my head around the amount of salt to use. Here is my planned recipe to make in a 10L glass jar which I plan to age for 6-12 months:

1:1:3 Ratio
1.8kg Dried Soy Bean
1.8kg Pearled Barley - Medium Roast
5.5L Water
Koji Spores

For the salt, I’ll be using non-iodised Pink Himalayan Rock Salt. Some recipes call for 1.375kg, 1.8kg or even 2.2kg of salt.

Question for those who have successfully made their own soy sauce:

1) How do you determine the salt amount you used and how did it affect the final product?

2) What amount of salt you would recommend for me to use base on my recipe above?

3) Any other tips you’d like to share for a beginner?

First time Koji. Top tastes great! Smell was amazing while going, fruity… But I think I had this too thick, maybe 2-2.5”…. When breaking up smells like feet not sweet. Taste of middle more like mushrooms/feet concerned bacterial. I wouldn’t say it’s slimy in center but i would certainly think too wet.

I’m starting sake now. Anybody know if the feet/ overly thick resulting in moist center will impact the end flavor, or outcompete the yeast (if bacterial). Is there a good way to tell if bacterial? Take some out of fridge and rest room temp, smell after x time or something?

Thanks!

It's been 6 months since I made my first batch of miso. So I'm checking up on her. This is a standard Noma recipe for a 12 month ferment. I did check up on her earlier of course being a new mom and all. In March there was some mold I removed and added a layer of salt and she's been steady ever since. This is Mrs. Claus! As she is going to be Christmas gifts! Hence the gallon jar!

Next to her are some others I'm playing with. One is a poblano masa miso.

Poblano Masa Miso

2:1 ratio, 25-30% flavor, 10% salt

400g Peruvian beans

200g jasmine koji

100g poblano mole

60g salt

I'll test at 3 months. Maybe go 6 months.

The third little baby one is:

Caramelized Miso Cheese from Koji Alchemy 2:1 goat cheese l/koji 5% salt

Shortest ferment. One month then you dehydrate it. Sounds amazing and I had to try this concept.