Fermentation Cast

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What happens when the world’s most sexy ferments make a baby? In the episode we explain how to make a sourdough starter that has koji added to it. The enzymatic power of koji creates a bread with a texture, taste and softness that you would not expect from a sourdough. And for those still nervous about making koji, you can use store bought koji too. ;-) 

This episode is (for now) the last episode of the koji mini collection made together with Maxene Graze from the Koji Collection Substack. 

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Our modern food system is efficient, but creates a gigantic amount of food waste. Carrot tops, animal carcasses and even invasive species in our sea waters. REDUCED is a company that turns these waste streams into tasty broths that can be used to spice up any dish. In this episode we speak with their interim Head of R&D Rebecca Rocchi. Using koji ánd industrial enzymes, she efficiently extracts flavour from underutilised ingredients. With her PhD in food fermentation she can clearly explain the science behind the process and how it enhances flavour by elaborating on umami, kokumi and other sexy compounds generated by fermentation.

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A lot of the more famous koji ferments require a lot of time: soy sauce, miso, sake. It goes from weeks to even months. In this episode we discuss an application that can be finished within a day, even within only 2 hours if you use our extra special trick. We are talking about: amazake! We dive into how to make this sweet and delicious drink and tell you how to make unorthodox amazake from chestnuts and even potatoes.

This episode is another co-production with Maxene Graze from the Koji Collection Substack.

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In the West, we often speak about koji as if it is one single thing, and as if it is just what you add to a miso to start the fermentation. In reality, koji has a much wider meaning. During this episode we discuss what is encompassed when we talk about koji. Koji also comes in many different forms, potencies and flavours. We will take you through the different types of koji spores that you can procure and will help you a hand with choosing the perfect spore for your next funky fermentation.

This episode is another co-production with Maxene Graze from the Koji Collection Substack.

Like the podcast? Support us and buy me us a coffee!

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The next batch of episodes are all about koji. The first we dive deeper into the making process, which we briefly touched upon in season 1. There’s a lot more to this fluffy friend than a simple growth of 2 days! We discuss growth phases, how to recognise where you are in the process, koji-styles and how to judge the quality of your koji. The episodes end with a beautiful sonification of the growth process.
The Koji-episodes are recorded with our guest co-host Maxene Graze; author of the Koji Collection substack. She translates articles about koji from Japanese to English, to help broaden everyone’s knowledge about this fungus. To read the article on which this episode was based and see illustrations of the different types of koji, go to https://thekojicollection.substack.com/p/visuals-of-koji.

We'd also like to invite our listeners to share pictures of koji they made: good and bad. Once we have a proper collection, we will make a post containing all these pictures to help you recognise all different forms, succeses and failures.

Like the podcast? Buy me a coffee!buymeacoffee.com/Fermentationcast