Processed
Rice Koji
S tier
Rice koji is steamed polished rice felted with Aspergillus oryzae until each grain is pearly and smells of chestnut, cucumber, and mushroom. It is the foundation of sake, amazake, shio koji, and many misos. Amylases turn the rice sweet; proteases are present but calmer than on a soybean koji. Fresh rice koji is perishable; dried rice koji is the mail-order form that still wakes in a warm, damp pot. Good koji is white to faintly green, never black or sour. The mycelium should bind the grains without turning them to mush. Use it when you want sweetness and a clean ferment, not the aggressive protein attack of soybean koji.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Japanese sake and miso crafts specialised rice koji as a distinct cultured ingredient.
Koji-ya supplied tane-koji so brewers could inoculate steamed rice consistently.
Selected A. oryzae strains industrialised sake rice koji.
Western chefs bought fresh and dried rice koji for shio koji and dry-aged meats.