We started with soybeans and mold. \u00a0Yes, mold. \u00a0Rather than taking the familiar approach of sterilizing, sealing, pasteurizing, and refrigerating to ensure the complete elimination of all living substances from food products, we planned on mixing fresh soybeans with ample quantities of mold. \u00a0This particular mold is the secret ingredient many of the most treasured Japanese foods. \u00a0From sake to soy sauce to pickles, koji, this particular rice mold, serves as a crucial component in traditional food processing. \u00a0Known in the scientific community as Aspergillus oryzae, this fungus comes originally from the rice fields where it makes its home on the starchy grains.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0When we arrived at a large community kitchen to participate in miso making, our host and teacher Akihiro Asami brought in two large tubs. \u00a0One contained soybeans he grown in his fields. \u00a0The other housed the precious koji. With the addition of 5 kilograms of salt and the final ingredient of time, this would be all we needed to produce enough miso for Asami-San\u2019s family for two years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Asami-San began to miso-making process two days before by cultivating enough koji for the miso. \u00a0It took those two days of carefully ensuring the temperature stayed just right for the white mold to thrive while it grew on the rice. \u00a0We had the chance to taste the finished culture. \u00a0The intact rice it grew on made it a little chewy and it tasted faintly sweet, but not at all unpleasant. \u00a0Yet the magic of koji lies not in what it is on its own, but in the transformation it causes when mixed with a few other ingredients and time.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t