Saturday, October 20, 2012

Koji

Sandor Katz wrote about his love for Koji in his new book, The Art of Fermentation.  
"Before I started growing koji, I would have never believed it possible to fall in love with a mold.  But I have been seduced by fresh koji's sweet fragrance..."
My first experience was more like the description in Vision Brewing's instructions, "a strong smell, not unpleasant", it was like a cheese smell not bad but nothing like a sweet fragrance.

That changed today.  The smell of the developing Kome Koji is sweet and flowerful.  The kind of smell where you want to take another deep whiff.  After a while while watching the news, the memories of that smell was actually drawing me back for more.  It is at that point I recalled the the words "fall in love with a mold".  Indeed it is a fresh sweet fragrance.

Photos of mature Kome Koji and close-up from Vision Brewing:

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