At our Picklefarm it's hard to imagine what life was like before we discovered miso. There have always been all kinds of animals, that didn't have a nice place to live elswehere, the vegetabe garden offered a vibrant harvest from the start, and the orchard has anually produced tasty ciders
Obviously there are changes; the herd is ever expanding, we are slowly growing older, and we are planting more and more edible crobs on the site. But the biggest change truely is miso. Since we started fermenting koji ourselves, wich we need to make miso, life has been different.
Miso is made from the true gem of the world of fermentation; koji. Koji consists of grain that is inoculated with the fungus Aspergillus Oryzae. This fermentation process inveriably results in an outburst of umami.
The tasty applications of koji are endless. It originated in Japan as the base of miso, tamari, sake and shoyu sauce, lately took a different turn in the modern western cuisine. Who's mouth doesn't start to water by scrumptious marsipan, astonishing aminosauces or luscious vegan charcuterie,?
From all those wonderful flavor bombs, miso remains our favorite. Miso is so versatile, it can no longer be ignored here. While barrels full of this stuff are invariably fermenting, every morning sweet varieties find their way into 'overnight oats'. And as the day unfolds misos's pop up cheerfully in pastries or even dessert. The savoury and deeper tasting misos invariably reintroduce themselves at lunch or dinner. Even the annual event of planting is related to miso now; how would this crop serve as a miso ingredient? And when we think there is no dish that we have not used miso in, there is always a new variant that begs for new creations.
Making koji requires a process that is least as exciting as using miso. Watching Aspergillus Oryzae grow slowly releases an unprecedented joy in me. Last year I
shared a post about this, in which many fellow fermenters recognized themselves.
So if you are looking for 'the next level' in fermentation, or just want to dive right in, take a closer look at making koji. And if, after drowning your self in material about growing koji, you are still a bit hesistant to start. You might want to follow an online workshop about koji& miso. You can allready sign up for the waitinglist.
In case you don't feel like, or have time and space to keep the grains on temperature and humidity, you can also skip that step, and order fresh koji in the webshop and start your miso adventure on the spot. Please note Ferm is not shipping fresh koji abroad, please send an email if you are looking for local koji producer outside of The Netherlands.