Background
We are experimenting with different grain kojis—specifically oat, rice, wheat, and nixtamalized sorghum—to see how they produce different shio koji tastes and functionalities.
Process
Ingredients
- Pearled Farro Shio Koji Batch:
- 215 g pearled farro Koji
- 725 g Water (940 g total mixture weight)
- 8% Salt by total weight (75.2 g)
- Comparative Testing Batches (Oat, Rice, Wheat, Sorghum):
- 50 g Koji substrate (each)
- 75 g Water (each)
- 5% Salt by total weight (each)
Notes and Observations
Tasting Notes
- Oat Koji: Pretty complex and highly umami. It honestly tastes like it is bordering on a shoyu, which is an interesting profile. It lacks the clean, cheesy taste of a normal shio koji.
- Rice Koji: Has a very strong white cheddar-y taste, reminiscent of a cheddar cheese powder rather than a slice of fresh cheddar.
- Nixtamalized Sorghum Koji: Very acidic, somewhat eggy, and slightly soy saucy. An interesting, complex profile.
- Wheat Koji: Wheaty on the aftertaste and almost a little alcoholic tasting. It is more mild and wheaty overall.
All of the test batches are quite acidic.
More ongoing tests are needed to determine how these various shio koji varieties will work for culturing, marinading, and so on.