Hashihei Dried Rice Koji from Nara 260 g

Inoue Honke in Nara has been making soy sauce and miso since 1864, and koji has always been at the centre of that work. The same rice koji they use to brew their own products is available here in dried form for home use. Drying makes it more shelf-stable than fresh koji and easier to work with, while retaining the enzymatic activity that makes koji so useful in the kitchen.

Rice koji is cooked rice that has been inoculated with the mould Aspergillus oryzae and allowed to ferment. The enzymes it produces break down starches into sugars and proteins into amino acids, which is what makes it the foundation of so much of Japanese food culture: sake, miso, soy sauce, mirin, amazake, shio koji, and more all begin here. At home it is perhaps most accessible as shio koji, a simple mixture of koji, salt, and water left to ferment for a week, which functions as a marinade, a seasoning, and a meat tenderiser all in one. It can also be used to make amazake, a naturally sweet fermented rice drink, or as a starter for homemade miso. Ingredients: Japanese rice.