Fermentation Support Forum

Hi,

I just embarked on my first batch of miso. I followed the recipe for red and white miso in the book (I made one crock of each), and all the preparation went fine. Only after I put it up did it occur to me that maybe I made a mistake with the koji.

I bought the koji at my local Japanese market and it came in a tub. The rice was dehydrated. Was I supposed to rehydrate the rice before I used it? Of course this never occurred to me as I was preparing the miso, and it seems like there would be enough liquid from the beans and the pot liquor I added, but now that it's out of my hands I'm having doubts.

What have you guys done in your miso adventures? Did I make a mistake or am I okay? Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Tejon

I have never made miso using dried koji, but my understanding (from the Book of Miso) is you simply add a little extra pot liquor to the mix to account for the missing moisture in the rice.

Shurtleff says:

"If using fresh koji, use 1.14 times as much as the dried koji [assuming the recipe calls for dried koji]." (BY WEIGHT)

So if your recipe called for fresh koji, that means use only 88% as much dried koji.

Also:
"If using fresh koji, use only 60% as much mixing liquid [if the recipe calls for dried koji]..." (BY VOLUME)

So if the recipe called for fresh koji, theoretically you should use 1.67 times as much liquid.

But if you're a little off in your measurements, I wouldn't worry too much. It'll still ferment, but it simply might not turn out exactly as expected.

Tejon, if your recipe called for dried koji, and you added the ingredients in the amounts specified, I think you're fine.

Thanks for the advice. I actually went off the Recipe in [i]Wild Fermentation[i] (ignorantly) thinking my koji was the only type of koji there is. So it will certainly be a little light on liquid. I suppose it's probably not too late to add some water to the white miso, which is only a couple days in. The red miso is more like a month in, but it is already spitting off a little tamari, so I might just wait and see with that one. Thanks again!

Tejon

If you're a little light on liquid, I think worst case scenario is your miso will end up a little saltier than expected and ferment a little slower. Might give these misos just a little extra time to develop.