Dried Koji

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Dried Koji

Postby Tejon on Sat Feb 25, 2012 5:30 pm

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
Tejon
 
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Re: Dried Koji

Postby Tim Hall on Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:08 pm

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.
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Re: Dried Koji

Postby Tim Hall on Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:13 pm

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

Postby Tejon on Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:54 pm

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
Tejon
 
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Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2011 4:24 pm

Re: Dried Koji

Postby Tim Hall on Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:59 pm

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.
Tim Hall
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