Name: Koji
Prep time: 72 h
Total time: 72 h
Yield: Makes / 1 kg
Cuisine: Australia
Ingredients: 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) Japanese koshihikari (sushi) rice; 4 g (⅛ oz) rice flour; 1 g (1/32 oz) dehydrated koji spores (see glossary)

Preparation info

Makes /
1 kg

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
72 hr

Appears in

Organum

By Peter Gilmore

Published 2014

About

Koji is the starting point for Japanese staples such as miso, sake and shoyu. Aspergillus oryzae mould spores are grown on rice. Through fermentation, they convert hard-to-digest proteins, starches and fats into easily absorbed amino acids and simple sugars.

Ingredients

Koji

1 g (1/32 oz) dehydrated koji spores (see glossary)
4 g (

Method

Wash the rice in cold water several times to remove as much starch as possible.

Soak the rice in a couple of litres of cold water for 8 hours or overnight. Pour off all of the water and rewash the rice several times in changes of cold water to remove as much milky, starchy water as possible. This is an important step to ensure the rice does not stick together when steaming.

Wear