Koji 17.63oz(500g) Miyako Koji For Shio Koji And Amazake

My forvorite!

Great product!

Using it for making Shio Koji.

I use it to tenderize meat. Tastes great.

While going through the steps of creating a Soju Koji marinade (by adding water and salt, letting sit at room temperature for a week while stirring daily) is a bit time-consuming the marinade last for a plus month in the refrigerator and greatly enhances the flavor & texture of marinated vegetables . Marinating steaks for 4 to 6 hours prior to grilling creates a awesome aged steak flavor that’s in my opinion very close to the more expensive real thing.. I have found that the recipes for the Soju Koji online add a lot more salt than I liked so I’ve toned it down by a third.

A few months ago, we tried out a pre-made Amazake mixture that simply required us to combine it with boiling water and we were such fans of the flavor that we wanted to find a way to make more of it in a higher volume. So we picked up this back of Koji and set about learning how to make Amazake from scratch, and we were quite happy with the results. While making Amazake from scratch is quite a bit more complicated a task than our first Amazake experience, it was worth it for the challenge and the increased volume we were able to make. Combining this Koji with some short-grain rice we set about combining the mixture in a hotpot using the "yogurt" setting to keep a steady temperature, and from there it just became a waiting game (about 10 hours) to let our Amazake mature/ferment. When all was said and done, we had a nice big batch of Amazake that lasted us for a week. This probably won't be a weekly or monthly thing that we brew, but for upcoming special occasions or family gatherings we might make a batch so others can try it as well. And if we get really good at making it we'll start adding additional custom flavors, but for now it was just a treat to be able to make the batches this bag afforded us. ***Overall Value*** We got about 3 batches-worth of Amazake from this bag of Koji, but I will say this, the images are a bit misleading. At 17 ounces, it is NOT a particularly big bag of Koji, but for us it was perfect as it was our first time making it from scratch and honestly there was no guarantee it was going to turn out as good as the pre-made mixture we'd tried before. Fortunately for us, it did work out and we might be picking up another bag or two of this Koji in the near future.

This is the first time I have ever used (or even heard of) koji. All of the packaging instructions and information is written in Japanese, so if you are unfamiliar with koji and can not read Japanese, you will have to do a little research on how to use it. First, koji is described as Japan’s “national fungus". Koji mold plays a foundational role in a lot of the country's food. It is used in making sake, soy sauce, and miso. Koji has many health benefits as well. I attempted to make miso paste with it. It is easy to work with. Making miso is a very long and involved process. It was an intriguing and fun venture though. It does need to ferment for months before I will be able to try it. I ordered this Japanese Decor Sakura Koji in April of 2023 and the date on the bag is February 2024 so there is a lot of time to use the bag up. The bag is not resealable.

Not sure if this is a manufacturer issue or shipping issue- but rice bag was broken and Koji rice spilled all over other items in box. A real bummer.