Hackoh
JAEN

The Secrets of Fermentation

Episode 3

What exactly is koji?

That white stuff is a mold, isn’t it? Is it safe to eat?

Keeping a little distance, Mugi peers into a flat tray of white rice koji. Hakkoh-chan watches quietly beside her.
MugiSo this is koji?
Hakkoh-chanIt is. There’s a white living thing on the rice.
MugiThe white stuff... is that a mold?
Hakkoh-chanYes. A mold called the koji mold.
MugiIs it safe to eat a mold?
Close up, the white rice koji is a crowd of koji molds, each sending hyphae out in all directions from a round body, with bumpy spores at the tips.
Hakkoh-chanMolds aren’t all the same, you know.
MugiThey’re different?
Hakkoh-chanSome molds make food.
Hakkoh-chanAnd some make a frightening toxin.
MugiHow did anyone tell them apart?
People long ago passed a little of the koji that turned out well on to the next batch, choosing it over a very long time.
Hakkoh-chanPeople long ago chose, over and over.
MugiChose what?
Hakkoh-chanThey kept the koji that came out tasting good.
Hakkoh-chanThey carried on the molds that make no toxin.
MugiThey kept choosing all that time?
Hakkoh-chanYes. Over a very long time.
Mugi and Hakkoh-chan look together at the tray of white rice koji, both at ease now.
MugiSo not just any mold will do.
Hakkoh-chanRight. This is the koji mold, the one for food.
MugiWe make miso with a mold that people chose.
Hakkoh-chanExactly.
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