What is Koji?
We would like to introduce you to our hard working team member, Koji. It's mycelium, it’s fungus, it's mold!
Koji has been around for about a few THOUSAND YEARS, it has been here on this planet for a very long time! In Japan, Koji is claimed as National yeast, because Japan would not exist without Koji. Miso, shoyu (soy sauce,) mirin, sake (rice wine) and rice vinegar, all these essentials for Japanese food culture are made with Koji. Koji is a Hero in Japan.
Koji, Aspergillus oryzae, is found on rice plants when it's close to harvest time in fall. There are still some farmers who harvest the Koji mold off of rice plants, but there are also several family owned and inherited companies that have been safely producing the Koji spores at their traditional facility in Japan.
Koji can be grown on legumes, grains and more that contain carbohydrates and proteins. In recent years, Koji has been in the spotlight all over the world, not just for making Miso or Sake, but by chefs and fermenters who are hooked on diving deep into experimenting and discovering another level of possibilities of delicious dishes that Koji can put its magic on. It's a powerhouse of Umami, and has so much more potential. We LOVE Koji.
At Mido’s Miso, we grow Koji mainly on rice. We soak high quality rice in water for over 24 hours, and then steam cook it. Once it cools down to body temperature, we inoculate in the cooked rice with Koji spores.
We give them the right environment, which is high humidity in a warm sanitary room, so that only Koji can grow and thrive. After 3 days of being taken care of like a baby, Koji now becomes Rice Koji/ Kome Koji, and ready to play any role in the kitchen.
Koji contains a lot of enzymes, and it has the ability to break down starches and proteins. It chews up foods, and makes it easy to digest, and makes its ferments rich in probiotics and nutritions.
Koji can be made into different products such as shio (salt) koji, shoyu (soy sauce) koji, amazake and more. It is not a byproduct, but one of the essential ingredients of Miso, that can be versatile with so many ways of use.
Koji is the hardworking unsung hero, but we are now learning of the huge potential and future connections worldwide. It is an essential fungus in Japan, but now it is also connecting all the people and food cultures in the world.
