Aspergillus oryzae– tag –

The National Fungus: Koji and the Mould That Built the Japanese Kitchen In 2006 a scientific society in Japan formally declared a mould to be the national fungus. It sounds like a joke. It is closer to a statement of fact — remove this one organism and most of what the world recognises as Japanese flavour disappears...

Amazake: The Drink Between Food and Medicine It is sweet, and nobody sweetened it. It is called sake, and it is usually not alcoholic. It is drunk hot at New Year shrines, and in classical poetry it is a word that means summer. Almost everything obvious about amazake turns out to be the opposite of what it looks lik...