Koji is fermented grain and known as one of the ingredients to make Miso.
I started making my own Koji in 2012 from the necessity. From koji making, I learned a lot about microorganisms. It has been really helping me understand how to make a good compost and soil for my garden.
What is Healthy Soil?
The healthy soil accommodates the healthy ecosystem. There is a great diversity of elements, both living (organic) things and non-living (non-organic) things.
When we make a garden, say a vegetable garden, our purpose is to grow and harvest vegetables. If you get all sorts of weeds but no potatoes, tomatoes or cucumbers, you can’t call it a successful vegetable garden.
To obtain the result you want, the conventional method applied the short cut solutions such as chemical fertilizer and mono-culture. However, after so many years practice it resulted many kinds of problems. It seemed like the overly simplified and mechanized (=industrialized) farming disturbed the healthy balance of ecosystem.
So, in short, healthy soil means it holds a well balanced ecosystem within. It is rich and complex.
The permaculture and other ecosystem-focused farming methods are trying to modify this natural healthy balance to work more for human’s favour so we can get crops instead of weeds.
Koji Making was the Microbiology 101 to Me
Now let’s go back to Koji.
To make rice Koji, you steam rice, mix spore and maintain the certain moisture level, temperature and air flow.
In other words, to encourage Koji fungus to thrive, I provide them:
- food
- water
- heat
- oxygen
Each microorganism has different preference of the condition. For example, I make Natto (fermented soy beans) as well and the Natto fungus likes higher temperature than Koji.
When I make Koji, I maintain 30 °C instead of 40 °C which is the best temperature for Natto.
The microorganisms’ world is like a battle field. It’s a number game – whichever takes over the larger area wins.
So if I want Koji fungus to take over the rice to turn into Koji (the end product I want), I set the condition best for them to thrive.
Essentially the same thing is happening in the soil and in our guts I believe.
The end result is the outcome of the given environment. Your interaction to the environment can upset or improve the balance of microorganisms, which changes the outcome such as your garden and health condition.
Composting and Microbiology 101
Koji making is much simpler than composting.
To make Koji you are selecting the food for them, introduce the particular spore intentionally, set the condition ideal for them and nurse it carefully.
Composting is not like that. The key creatures are not single but multiple such as fungi, bacteria, bugs and possibly you need to consider the influence of birds and small animals. The food for the decomposers is case by case because you practically use whatever available (you know how much material you need to make a decent heap of compost). Depending on the material and location, their activity levels are vary.
But still my 4 key elements I learned from Koji making play the major roles.
- Food
- Water
- Temperature (heat)
- Air (oxygen)
If your compost is not going well, you can think and tweak about those 4 elements – are you providing your decomposers ideal food, moisture, heat and air flow?
Is the compost pile large enough? – The fermentation creates heat which encourages the activity going farther. However if the heap is not large enough it can’t reach that stage.
Is the compost location too hot/cold/dry/wet? – Generally speaking a half-shade spot is ideal to set a compost bin. Apparently locating it in a baking hot spot is not really the best idea.
However if you live in a cold place (like Canada), you may want to consider to shelter it so it can utilize the heat more efficiently.
Is there enough air flow? – Probably you have heard about “turning the compost”. It provides more oxygen to the microorganisms in the compost and it activates them.
Things decompose much faster in a tropical area than Canada. They have more heat and moisture. We, living in Canada, don’t. Things takes longer so, if you want to fasten the process, you may need a bit of extra work. The more heat and oxygen supply encourage the aerobic (oxygen-loving) microorganisms activities, which speeds up the composting process.
Don’t forget to maintain the moisture level, too! The key is not to make it soggy but moist enough. Koji and Natto are the same – they don’t like soggy but just moist. Yes, they are fussy.
Just jotting down what I have been learning through my Koji making and gardening. I hope there is something you can apply into your own project.