Quartz 4

Koji recipes

15 min read

What koji needs

From https://www.fermentationculture.eu/what-koji-needs/ Temperature: 28-36C. At lower temperatures: more proteases, at higher temperatures: more amylases.

Relative humidity: 90% Spray with water if necessary

Substrate: rice, barley, soy, wheat etc. Substrate shouldn’t be wet after cooking, but rather dry. Best is steaming (unless for shoyu, then cooking is better).

After inoculation, stir for the first time after 24h, then every 4 hours or so.

Rice koji can be ready after 40 h, barley koji can take up to 50 h. Stop before (or when) spores develop (yellow-green spots). Cool the grains in the fridge or outside in a thin layer.

Different kojis

Barley koji

From https://thejapanstore.jp/blogs/column/how-to-make-barley-koji

Barley miso made with barley koji has a lighter taste than rice miso made with rice koji.

  1. Wash barley → soak in water (1h) → drain water (30 min)→ steam barley wrapped in cloth (45 min)→ spread out and cool down to 40C.
  2. Sprinkle koji starter on cooked and cooled-down barley, mix well → wrap in cloth together as small as possible.
  3. Incubate (30-35C) for 18-20 hours, then separate the clumps that have formed. Keep for another 5-6 h, separate clumps again. Keep for another 20ish h (total: 45ish h)→ completion when it smells like chestnut.

Bread koji

See Bread aminos

Rice koji

From [Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey)](Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey))

  • 525 g rice
  • 20 g rice flour
  • 1 g (1 tsp) koji starter
  1. Cook (steam) rice to al dente consistency, then spread out into casserole for cooling.
  2. Toast the flour in a pan for 5 min, cool down. When flour is cooled, mix koji spores in. When rice is below 40C, mix koji flour in.
  3. Cover dish with plastic wrap (+ holes) or moistened cheese cloth.
  4. Incubate at 30C. Check internal temperature every few hours, should be 27-35C.
  5. After 24h, sweet smell. Check temperature. Stir and break up lumps. Make furrows to dissipate heat.
  6. After around 40 h in total, rice koji is ready.

Oat koji

From [Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey)](Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey)) Like rice koji, but use 3 cups of oat groats instead. Soak groats for 6-8h, then steam until al dente. Follow the rice koji instructions.

Nice oatmeal cookie smell when done.

Barley koji

From [Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey)](Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey)) More prone to overheating! Nutty chestnut aroma when done. Will look less fuzzy than rice koji.

  • 1225 g pearled barley
  • 35 g wheat or rice flour
  • 2 g (2 tsp) koji starter
  1. Soak barley 6-8 h, drain and rinse. Steam for 1.5 hours or boil for 1h. Barley is done when the kernels are soft all the way through but not mushy. Drain and spread out on a drain to cool to below 40C.
  2. Toast the flour for 5 min, cool down. Add koji spores to cooled flour, mix well.
  3. Sprinkle koji flour on barley, mix very well.
  4. Put everything into a deep dish, cover with cling film (+ holes) or moistened cheese cloth.
  5. Incubate at 30C, check internal temperature every few hours (should be 27-35C).
  6. After 24-36h, surface growth and sweet, mushroomy smell. Monitor heat closely, stir and break up lumps, make furrows to dissipate heat. Adjust moisture if needed.
  7. After about 40 h total, incubation is done.

Koji from LUVI/Fermentationculture.eu

(500g), Grind in mixer to powder. Add 200g water and mix to reconstitute = 700g fresh koji.

Shoyus and aminos

Soy-wheat shoyu

From https://www.fermentationculture.eu/how-to-make-soy-sauce/:

Traditional recipe: wheat berries/matvete (from soft wheat, not durum)= whole wheat kernel with bran, germ, endosperm but without the husk + soy beans. Variations: Use oats or barley instead of wheat, and lentils or chickpeas instead of soy beans.

Ratio soy:wheat (legumes:grains):

  • Traditional 1 part dry soy, 1 part dry wheat (by weight).
  • A bit more wheat: 1 part soaked soy, 1 part dry wheat. The less wheat you use, the longer the sauce will have to ferment.

Preparation:

  1. Roast the wheat berries in the oven until they are golden brown. Mill them in something like a coffee grinder on the coarsest setting or a food processor.
  2. Soak soy beans over night. (Soy beans will increase 2.3X when soaked, so calculate how much dry beans to use!)
  3. Cook soy beans for at least 40 min, until you can easily squeeze them between your fingers. Strain them and let steam a bit.
  4. Mix the steamy beans with the milled wheat (so the dry wheat soaks up the excess moisture). If it seems too wet, add more wheat. If it’s too dry, spray some water onto it, or add more beans (if you have). Crush some of the soy beans with your hands.

Inoculation:

  1. Dilute the spores, so they are easier to handle, with some flour.
  2. Check that soybean/wheat mixture has cooled down to below 40C. Spread spores over the mixture (e.g. with a tea strainer). Mix well.
  3. Line a pyrex dish with damp piece of cloth. Spread your mix into the dish. Cover with another moistened cloth. Put cling film over the dish, poke some holes in.
  4. Incubate (at 30C) and keep a close eye on the temperature inside the koji, it can overheat very easily.
  5. After 24h, stir the mixture. Moisten the top cloth again if necessary. Put cling film back on and continue incubation. If koji overheats (>37C) a lot, you have to stir a lot. Spread out in a thinner layer and turn off oven!
  6. After another 12h (36h in total) you should see a lot of growth. It shouldn’t sporulate, but it’s not the worst if it does a bit.

Fermentation:

  1. Prepare a 15% brine: 150 g of uniodised salt + 850 g of water. (You’ll need about 1.65x the dry ingredients weight in brine weight).
  2. Clean your fermentation vessel well and pour in the koji.
  3. Pour the brine over the koji until the koji is covered. Let it soak for 1-2h. Pour some more brine until koji is covered again. Stir. You might have to add more brine over the next few days to keep the koji covered.
  4. Optional: Stir in a few tea spoons of unpasteurised miso to introduce beneficial bacteria.
  5. During the first 2-3 weeks, stir daily. A lot of gas will be produced during that time that carry up solids to the surface. Push them down again so they don’t get mouldy.
  6. Once your shoyu has settled down and is less active, reduce stirring to once every other day.

Pressing:

After 3-12 months, put a cheese cloth into a sieve or colander, pour the fermentation mash in, cover with a cloth and put a weight on top. Let press over night. (Or use a cider press if you have one).

Bottling:

  1. Clean bottles well, sterilise in oven (cover with aluminium foil, keep at 160C for at least 30 min, let cool down over night). Boil bottle caps in water.
  2. Heat the shoyu to 90C to kill off moulds and bacteria, but don’t boil it! Pour the shoyu into the bottles and cap.

Bread aminos

From [Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey)](Miso, Natto, Tempeh (Shockey))

Ingredients:

  • 680 g bread
  • 70 g all purpose or rice flour
  • 1 g (1 tsp) koji starter
  • 1.9 L water
  • 100 g for a 5% salt solution or 165 g for a 8% salt solution

Instructions:

  1. Break bread into small pieces and place in a bowl.
  2. Toast the flour in a pan over medium heat until slightly browned (5 min). Remove and let cool, then combine with koji spores.
  3. Mix koji-flour with bread cubes. Distribute very well.
  4. Transfer the inoculated bread to a casserole dish, cover with cling film and poke a few holes in.
  5. Set incubator to 30C and place the pan in there. Check the internal temperature every few hours, it should be 27-35C.
  6. After 20-24h, you should notice a sweet smell. Stir the bread pieces, then continue to incubate for another 20-30h.
  7. When the koji is done, place everything into a glass jar. Boil the water with the salt and cool down to below 50C. Pour the brine onto the bread koji and mix thoroughly.
  8. Seal the jar with a lid and let sit at warm RT (27-29C) for 24h. Stir a few times during.
  9. Let mixture sit at regular RT for a week. Open the jar to release gases, stir at least once a day. After a week, the ferment should have settled down. When it’s no longer active, seal the container and let it age at RT for at least 6 months.
  10. When you’re ready to use the amino sauce, strain out the bread solids (or blend into a thicker sauce). Use the liquid for seasoning. Store in the fridge (because of low salt content).

Oat residue aminos

Adapted from bread aminos (Shockey recipe) Made 2021-10-16 [Oat residue aminos](Oat residue aminos)

Ingredients:

  • 430 g dried oat residues (dried in oven at 50C for a day, from 1 kg fresh oat residue)
  • 44 g rice flour
  • 1 tsp barley koji starter (LUVI Ferments)
  • 1.2 L water
  • 63 g uniodised salt
  • 1 Tbsp seed miso

Instructions:

  1. Toast rice flour. Cool down to below 40C, then add about 1/5 of one bag of barley koji starter (whole bag is for 5 kg substrate).
  2. Disinfect a big bowl with Starsan and add the dried oat residues. It feels rubbery, but not quite damp enough, so carefully add a little bit of water. Add 70 g of water and mix thoroughly with hands. Feels like a good dampness now.
  3. Mix in the flour koji starter with a tea strainer. Mix very thoroughly. Oats feel quite dry again due to the flour, so add 100 g more water and mix.
  4. Pack into a Pyrex dish lined with a damp tea towel. Cover the oats with the tea towel, stick a thermometer in and cover with cling film + holes.
  5. Incubate at around 30C until koji has grown nicely, but not sporulated (approx. 48h).
  6. Place oat koji into a bowl, pour the (cooled down) brine onto it and mix throughly. Place in a large glass jar and leave at RT, stir occassionally for the next 2 weeks. Mould forms on top over and over again, which looks exactly like koji mould —> remove regularly and try to weigh down the solids to keep everything submerged (it’s hard, since the oat residue is very fine).
  7. After about 2 weeks at RT in the open glass jar, divide between small plastic tubs with screw-top lids, fill completely to the brim and seal. Now leave at RT for up to 12 months.
  8. Strain away the solids and filter the liquid. Store in fridge until use. Use as flavouring agent when cooking.

Shio koji

(1-2 weeks), Shockey

  • 250g (125g) rice koji
  • 50g (25g) salt
  • 470-705mL (235-352mL) water

Misos

Soy bean miso

See Miso, Tempeh, Natto (Shockey) Barley Miso, p265.

  • 525 g dry soybeans
  • 830 g barley koji: Place the koji in a bowl. If it’s too dry, add a bit of bean cooking liquid to moisten. It should be well hydrated (every grain all the way through), but not wet. Once the consistency is right, weigh the koji.
  • 150 g salt (+ extra for top)
  • 16 g unpasteurised miso
  1. Soak the beans over night in water. Cook for 50 min, drain, reserve the bean cooking water.
  2. Spread the beans out on a tray to cool down (<38C) and steam off moisture.
  3. Combine in a bowl beans, koji and salt. Mash together with a potato masher.
  4. Add the miso and thoroughly mix.
  5. Add enough bean cooking water to achieve the desired consistency - chunky and dry-ish, like mashed potatoes.
  6. Rinse the fermentation jar with some of the bean cooking water, then sprinkle salt on all surfaces.
  7. Fill the jars with the paste, making sure to remove all air pockets by pressing down.
  8. Cover with a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle some salt on the top and the edges.
  9. Weigh the past down and cover the jar with cloth or tissue paper.

Made: October 2024 Barley miso with self-made barley koji 2024

Chickpea miso, standard

See Miso, Tempeh, Natto (Shockey) Barley Miso, p266.

  • 350 g dry chickpeas
  • 440 g fresh barley koji (for moistening, see above)
  • 150 g salt
  • 16 g unpasteurised miso
  1. Soak chickpeas over night. Cook for 1h. Reserve the cooking water.
  2. Spread the chickpeas out on a tray to cool down (<38C) and steam off moisture.
  3. Combine in a bowl chickpeas, koji and salt. Mash together with a potato masher.
  4. Add the miso and thoroughly mix.
  5. Add enough chickpea cooking water to achieve the desired consistency - chunky and dry-ish, like mashed potatoes.
  6. Rinse the fermentation jar with some of the cooking water, then sprinkle salt on all surfaces.
  7. Fill the jars with the paste, making sure to remove all air pockets by pressing down.
  8. Cover with a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle some salt on the top and the edges.
  9. Weigh the past down and cover the jar with cloth or tissue paper.

_Variation made: October 2024 Chickpea miso (1:1, 10% salt)

Barley + fava miso

  1. Cook fava beans until they still have a bit of bite to them.
  2. Prepare barley koji (48ish h). Grind up equal amounts of fava and barely koji and mix with salt (10-ish%?). Put in jar, cover and leave for 6 months.

Sweet white miso

(3-5 weeks), Shockey

  • 175g (87.5g) soybeans
  • 600g (300g) rice koji
  • 42g (21g) salt
  • 16g (8g) seed miso

Made in 2020. Turned out very good. Quite salty, but delicious. Quite straight flavour.

Medium miso (1:1 koji and soybean)

6 months - 2 years, from Miso, Tempeh, Natto (Shockey), p269

  • 1 part dry legumes
  • 1 part fresh koji
  • 12% salt (of weight of dry legumes + koji)

Made in 2024: Miso with koji from Max: 100 g reconstituted rice koji, 100 g dry soy beans, 24 g salt, 1 tsp seed miso.

  1. Soak beans for 8-24h.
  2. Boil soybeans in plenty of water until they are soft, about 1h. Drain, keep the bean cooking water, spread beans out on a try to cool slightly and steam off moisture.
  3. Blend dried koji in blender to powder, add 40 g water to make reconstitute.
  4. When the beans are cooled below 38C, combine in a bowl with the koji and the salt. Mash together with a potato masher. Add the miso, mix. Add enough bean cooking water to achieve the desired consistency - chunky and dryish, like mashed potatoes.
  5. Use the rest of the bean cooking water to rinse out fermentation vessel, then sprinkle some salt into the jar.
  6. Layer the miso paste into the jar, press together to minimise air pockets.
  7. Set a piece of parchment paper on top, sprinkle some salt on the edges, weigh down with weight.
  8. Cover the entire vessel with cloth or paper, secure it in place, place in a tray, and store at room temperature for 6 months to 2 years. Check the tamari on top of the miso regularly during the first few weeks of fermentation. After fermentation, transfer the finished miso to the fridge.

Light miso

(6-12 months), Shockey

  • 350g (175g) soybeans
  • 440g (220g) rice koji
  • 135g (67.5g) salt
  • 16g (8g) seed miso

Favabean miso

(10 days), umami-chef.co.uk

  • 500g fava beans
  • 200g koji
  • 62g salt

Soak beans o/n. Boil and simmer until soft.

Hishio

Hishio contains (barley) koji, cooked soy beans and diced vegetables, and is fermented for a relatively short amount of time - 2-4 weeks. The resulting sauce or chutney is part miso, part shoyu, part pickle. It can be put on rice or noodles and has a rich umami taste with saltiness and sweetness.

Recipe

See Miso, Tempeh, Natto (Shockey) Barley Miso, p260. _Made in October 2024: Hishio Ratio: 75% barley koji (fresh), 15% soy beans, 10% vegetables (carrot, daikon, etc.)

  • 60 g dry soybeans
  • 262 g fresh barley koji
  • 88 g diced vegetables
  • 235 mL soy sauce or shoyu
  1. Soak the soybeans in water over night. Then cook for 50 min.
  2. Combine soybeans, koji, vegetables and soy sauce in a jar and ferment at room temperature for 2-4 weeks. The ferment is ready when it develops a miso-like aroma. It will keep many months at room temperature or indefinitely in the fridge.

Nattoh miso

Similar to Hishio, but a different koji:soybean:vegetable ratio (at least according to Miso, Tempeh, Natto (Shockey) Barley Miso, p260. Made in October 2024: Nattoh miso

Recipe

See Miso, Tempeh, Natto (Shockey) Barley Miso, p260. Made in October 2024.: Nattoh miso with soy beans, ginger, chili and carrots Ratio: 60% barley koji, 35% soy beans, 5% vegetables

  • 115 g dry soy beans
  • 230 g fresh barley koji
  • 43 g sliced kombu, ginger or chili pepper
  • 235 mL soy sauce or shoyu
  1. Soak the soybeans in water over night. Then cook for 50 min.
  2. Combine soybeans, koji, vegetables and soy sauce in a jar and ferment at room temperature for 2-4 weeks. The ferment is ready when it develops a miso-like aroma. It will keep many months at room temperature or indefinitely in the fridge.

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