As a microbiologist, I’d recommend you add a cup of water to your dehydrator to keep the environment more moist.

@vilebeggar622

Жыл бұрын

ah yes, hydrate my dehydrator

@bibson1405

Жыл бұрын

But your trying to dehydrate all of the water?!?! How would making the environment more humid inside the dehumidifier be good?!? Surely it would only make the dehydratoin in e it take longer?!?!?

@alexanderfransen2486

Жыл бұрын

@@bibson1405 the point of it isnt to dehydrate the koji, its purpose for this is to maintain a constant temperature, so addign a little water in there in a cup would maybe be beneficial.

@fickgooglefickthem6884

Жыл бұрын

Yes, the insides need to get thick!

@mopsydaisy

Жыл бұрын

behold peasants! a microbiologist is blessing us with his presence!

Mike, I'm not sure if you read these comments but I want you to know that you have brought back joy to my kitchen. I haven't wanted to cook for a few years now and I used to be a very good cook back in the day. But at age 63 and with the pandemic I just lost interest in cooking. Your videos have gotten my kitchen humming with home made yogurt and kefir, kombucha, a fridge full of prepped items, energy balls for snacks and me really wanting to start my micro greens production again. I have an air fryer that I had never used and now it's my kitchen workhorse along with a counter top convection oven and an induction cooktop. I even have my heirloom tomtato plants growing like crazy under lights and ready to go to my balcony as soon as it warms up here. We have not had take out food since before the first of the year! My next adventure is the flavored vinegars. I cannot eat most grains other than oats and rice so I really envy the lovely breads you make. More than anything I wish you would make a video on how to make healthy bread with alternatives to wheat. I can make breads with the ATK flour mixture but it relies heavily on sweet and white rice flour. I'd love to be able to make something at home that is a bit more healthy. Thank you so much for all of your videos that have reignited my love of cooking. I am so glad I found Pro Home Cooks!

@michaelgreenfield

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for writing in, this is awesome!

@saragarvey6091

Жыл бұрын

I have family whom can't eat wheat either and would love to learn wheat alternatives too.

@idabergmann5270

Жыл бұрын

that's so cool 😄

@mrsapplez2007

Жыл бұрын

Such a great and inspiring lady. Bloody awsome. Thanks for sharing 😊

@spizzleyo

Жыл бұрын

Legend!

Welcome to koji world Mike. I’m Japanese - one of koji people. ;) These days, I use homemade onion koji as an alternative to salt, which is becoming popular here. Your fermentation videos have been inspiring. Very much look forward to your new journey with koji. K

@KarottenKind911

Жыл бұрын

I can misofy even vegetables!??! Honestly this rabbithole is getting deeper and deeper! I am in awe! 😮

@Ythrit

6 ай бұрын

Hey, you are japanese, si maybe you can answer my question... Can koji be made using koji as the starter? 🤔 Where I'm leaving getting the koji or even the spores is quite difficult, so maybe I can manage a little colony, as the sourdough 🤔

@lilmissjoodypoody

3 ай бұрын

@@Ythritdid you end up trying this? I imagine you can! Fungus is cool like that. I get spent mushroom blocks from a local mushroom grower and use it in the garden as compost, and I get flushes of mushrooms whenever the conditions suit. It’s inoculated my mulch on top of the soil. I imagine koji would be similar, though the product may be less reliable (better than nothing if you can’t get spores locally though). Get your mad scientist hat on 😄

@FireSilver25

16 күн бұрын

That’s sounds so good! I’ll check it out

I know ppl miss the old stuff but as a fan, I'm truly so happy to see your growth and all the rewards from your hard work. Your beautiful family, your home, all the appliances and kitchen gadgets, all the studios, the garden, just everything. Long way from that little kitchen.

@lovingdeanthegodmachine5622

Жыл бұрын

Exactly get to see the growth like watch a plant grow it’s admirable!

@joyfulgirl91

Жыл бұрын

What old stuff do people miss? Like the old videos with his brother throwing things and interrupting?

The pot you have is made that way for a reason, you put water around the rim and then when the bowl is placed upside down ontop it creates a seal that doesnt let oxygen in - but it will let any air pressure out.

@heartshapedisle

Жыл бұрын

Yes. I wondered why he didn't add water in the commentary

@heqaib

Жыл бұрын

The problem is the water dries out so you need to keep an eye on it, particularly for long fermentations.

@devonstaggs9470

Жыл бұрын

​@@heqaib easier than his weird weight setup

@lubomirkompis9441

Жыл бұрын

@@heqaib It's about the same as watering your plants. Just pour some water in once a week, no big deal.

@catlover-fp5ig

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, kind of weird to get a fermentation pot and then not use its main feature. It's like buying a fridge but never turning it on and instead keeping it cool with ice packs.

That looked so much like rice I was thinking: "Mike, are you okay, rice has been around for a while now?"

@ProHomeCooks

Жыл бұрын

just a nice chunk of moldy rice

@Platinumb1

Жыл бұрын

@@ProHomeCooks No different than what I used when I was a student! Thanks for the insight.

@DarkNekow

Жыл бұрын

I believe you can grow another kind of shrooms fun to consumption in rice

@IAmKAZMO

Жыл бұрын

So has Koji....

@ruthmiale1239

Жыл бұрын

This is a real food with real nutrient profile. Have wished (forever) to know how to grow this .

I really think you brought the term Cooking Channel to a whole different level. I’m sticking with you since a few years now, and thanks to you I’ve learned how to make fermented veggies, how to make kombucha, how to make out the most of my air fryer and you are teaching me more as anyone ever did before about foods and techniques. I thank you for your education, for all of your inspiration, and for your motivation to teach us a healthy way to live.

The amount of love, dedication, research, knowledge, passion, etc shown is what makes your videos so enjoyable. Living in a tiny apartment, I envy you and your life. The studio you built yourself is a dream come true. It was amazing to see your channel grow and explode from about half a million subs and to see it growing and growing. Awesome stuff, always.

Nice video, Mike. I live in Indonesia so i made my koji during the rain season. I let it sit overnight in my small oven. By morning it’s ready. Then i use my koji to make small batches of miso paste in my rice cooker also overnight with its keep warm setting. I now always have miso paste ready for soup and ramen. I also make my own gochujang. That is a looooooong process.

@anjaliarora9371

9 күн бұрын

How do you make miso paste in your rice cooker? May I have the details please?

@ima7333

9 күн бұрын

@@anjaliarora9371 i use @kitchenprincessbamboo’s recipe then ferment it in my rice cooker on keep warm overnight. Instant overnight miso is done.

I’m Japanese and I use rice KOJI and make fermented beans and salted onion etc. it makes healthy and delicious condiments!!!! I’m so happy to see this video!!!!!!!!

We have been making rice, soy bean, barley, etc. koji for the longest time to make home made miso and marinades. Shio-koji dressing is great marinade for roasted chicken!

During the pandemic I made all sorts of things due to being bored out of my mind! Sake was one of them. Made the koji first. The sake turned out surprisingly good! Haven't made miso, though. Love that fermentation crock!

Inoculating hydrated grains with fungus spores, you are entering the wonderful world of mycology with these techniques. You ever plan on trying to grow mushrooms? Mycology is such a fascinating biology.

Mike, this has become my favorite cooking channel. I really appreciate how relatable you are and how approachable you make even the most complicated and intimidating food projects. Thank you!

I watched Brad Leone's "It's Alive" program on making Miso years ago - what distinctly interested me was Brad basically saying you can use *any* legume for Miso paste (and it's Tamari by-product,) and I have two friends who are allergic to Soy beans. This year I finally got it together to start a big crock of it with some extremely wet bean paste and I've been reserving the Tamari ever since. At some point I'm going to give these friends bottles of chickpea tamari so they can have something like Soy Sauce again. Thanks for putting out more info on the Koji rice! Next time I may try inoculating it myself rather than buying some...

Miso paste is something I wish I learned about at a much younger age. It's freaking delicious. I'm happy using it as simply as a spoonful of miso paste in a cup of hot water, but it adds so much flavor to so many things.

I learn sooooo much from this channel! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and honesty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like your take on Miso. I did my first batch over 5 years ago with koji imported from Japan and pressure cooked chick peas. I was going for a long miso. It's amazing, at this point I have 5 year aged miso and it is fantastic! Going to do the traditional thing and take the last quart and mix it into a new batch and do 1.5 - 2 full gallons to age another 5 years.

Ah, South River Miso. I took a tour of their miso-making plant and loved both the facility and the people.

I went to McCradys in Charleston years ago and got given a tour of all the kitchens and the kitchen garden by Sean Brock (!!!). He had a whole kitchen for experimentation and was making miso paste out of popcorn and vinegar out of Mountain Dew. He actually gave us a bottle of the vinegar to take home with us and we managed to smuggle it back into Australia.

One of my favorite youtube channels! Always such great content that is very well put together and to the point. Very professional and educational and fun! I enjoyed seeing the use of a glass pot to be able to see what's going on, that seems to work great for a youtube channel.

You can Miso *anything*. I have done chickpea miso, black-eyed pea miso, black bean miso, mixed bean/grain miso, before I go all Bubba from Forest Gump on ya'll, you get the idea. I hacked a mini fridge to be a perfect temp controlled fermenter that is super easy to keep sanitary. It's the end all be all for home fermentation. InkBird temp controller is your best friend.

Wow! You did it again... Just when I thought I was really getting somewhere with the ferments and Kombucha.. now I gotta try this! Love it!

Checking out productive things to do and as usual i am looking for new recipes online since we got 5 days off work this holy week and I luckily got into your channel and really got hooked to binge watch😀. I love the 15mins cooking recipe youve shared, the 1 week home cooking, airfryer vs the oven and I envy your cosori haha!.. and this koji thing!🙌 I am learning a lot from your channel. Thanks for sharing Mike G! PHC is definitely my #1 cooking channel now! ☺️

Loved this video! It was actually the exact type of video I was looking for a year ago when I was trying koji for miso for the first time. Still use tips for my next batch 😊

this is the best film you've done in ages - really interesting to take something that seems so out of reach to make, and break it down. thx!

Nice! I love the videos where you talk about fermenting stuff! I'm always glad to learn how kombucha, rustic bread or other stuff are made! Thanks

A very inspiring video. I have made Miso before and now I need to produce again. I have read the book Koji Alchemy. But it is helpful to see it done like in your video.

This type of video is my favorite thing you post on Pro Home Cooks. LOVE the fermentation experimentation.

This has been an incredibly useful video and I can't thank you enough for it. I have a bizarre (and presumably rare) allergy to soy sauce - I've never eaten miso, so I don't know whether I'm allergic to that. It's a proper allergy, not an intolerance. I swell up, change colour and - if I can - projectile vomit whenever I've accidentally ingested some soy sauces. And on other occasions I've just gone numb from my mouth and down my throat on other occasions. Because it's a rare allergy, I followed the advice I received in my very early teens, which was to just avoid soy sauce and all Japanese and Chinese foods. There's probably something psychological, but for most of my adult life I've been fascinated by Chinese and Japanese cultures - but I've never explored the countries' cuisines and have never visited any part of the world where there might be soy sauce. Until I watched your video, I didn't know koji existed. Even though knowing this means I still won't go anywhere near Chinese or Japanese food, the simple fact that there's a simple, rational and explicable reason why I've had to avoid a whole massive section of the world's food culture just makes me feel a *lot* better. If anyone reading this hasn't experienced it, I doubt they'll understand. But this video has potentially explained something and calmed a worry I've had in the back of my brain for decades. So, thank you so much Mike. I'm very grateful.

Dude I loved this video so much! Been missing your fermentation videos! Thank you for the wonderful guide!

I am sorry I am changing subject. Thank you for guiding me through harvesting the Schmaltz from my air fryer. It’s a beautiful thing. I use it in making navy beans. It’s was great and not over seasoned. Thanks again. Keep the good work up. Saves me a lot of money.

I will never ever make this myself, but thank you, it is as you said, really cool to see where items come from and how they're made. Will be awesome to see the updates and the life cycle of the miso paste.

I’m not sure I’d ever make this, but it was fascinating! Now I know how miso is made. Thanks so much!

Very cool! Thank you for this. I know that I’ll never undertake such a rigorous project myself, but learning about the process was fascinating.

Very interesting video. I learned a lot! I've been a subscriber for years and always enjoy your videos. Glad to see you grow. Keep up the great work!

Never knew any of this information. Now I am very excited to discover more! Much thanks.

I've made a couple of batches of koji, following Shurtlef's book, starting about 15 years ago. First batch went into a 5 gallon batch of red miso and some soy sauce. Second major batch was 5 gallons of chickpea miso. Some of the koji was frozen for smaller batches of miso (fava bean), some for rice wine.

I made my koji in a cooler with a light bulb and a temperature controller. Try adding roasted garlic to your miso before fermenting, yum!

Awww the moyashimon aspergilus are super sweet

Loved this. The newsletter article about it all was also super informative. Can you spend a little time letting us know how to store it and how long it lasts, please?

A small tip would be to remove your rings when you cook something that is to be preserved. It can potentially introduce microbes into a sterilized food or container. It is also a common practice most chefs go through as the moist and warm conditions between the ring and your skin is an ideal place for them to fester.

I was just thinking and getting it all together so glad your doing this ❤❤😊 thank you my friend

Wow! I’ve never made koji myself even though I am Japanese! Thank you for exploring and showing us! 😊

I never will make Koji or Miso but I did very much enjoy your video and watched with my interest. Thank you for sharing this with us.

I’ve been making Koji rice and miso for a few years, and my favourite is to use brown rice for making Koji, but I also make the soy as tempeh before combining the two together for miso! Sometimes I make the soy as Koji too to increase the amount of enzymes. I age it for about 9 months, and mainly I use it on buttered toast as a Vegemite substitution 🥰 For humidity when making Koji and tempeh I use an electric frypan with a small dish of water underneath a wire rack and sit the rice container on the rack with a thermometer to monitor temperature, works a treat. And it’s easy to watch the progress through the glass lid.

Amazing! 🤩 I am in Japan now and I discovered kōji. It's fascinating, really. Thanks for this video and your enthousiasm. Another fun and quick recipe to do with kōji is amazake :)

I've always found the process too intimidating. But actually seeing it makes it much more manageable! Thanks Mike!

This was so informative and cool. I don't know if it's the same fermentation method but A similar method is used for making Makgeoli which is a korean rice alcohol similar to sake.

This reminded me a lot of your kombucha series. Love it!

One of the cool things about those crocks, and other traditional crocks, is that ring around the top is so that you can pour water in to make another seal to keep out other microorganisms.

This was really interesting. Thanks for taking us along.

UTTERLY. AMAZING. CONTENT. Thank you--I cannot wait to try this.

imo Most important thing about choosing the type of rice to make your kouji with is that short/long grain is not an effective generalization on top of it really depending on what you plan to make with your kouji, It more comes down to the species of rice and the method of preparation. Not all rice is the same and they WILL massively affect the end result. For example, Kouji made with the common short grain uruchi rice is great for and generally used by the miso making industry because it's protein distribution is very evenly spread throughout the grain which affects the balance of how the mold grows as it turn the protein into protase. For clear rice alcohol making, you need to grind the rice until only the core is left. The core is a chunk of carbohydrates and you need a species of rice that has its protein spread on the outside of the core because the protein will negatively affect the taste of the end product. They made a special species of rice called sakamai specifically for clear sake making that fits these criteria perfectly. The science of making kouji is not just about more amylose equals more better, it's about how you're regulating and engineering the entire enviroment and food of the mold to accurately control the way it grows and how it proccess the material. And how well you do this will vastly affect the quality of every single product and useful by-product produced in the following steps. Though there should probably be more study into making kouji with long grain rice even if we already have easily accessable specialized species. Also equal parts kouji equal parts soysauce or viniger makes pretty nice dip.

I needed this. Thank you!

Thanks for the video! I was looking forward to this video. Koji is on my list of fermentation experiments. I hope it goes well for me.

Every video is a new fun inspiration source, thank you a lot for sharing them. Off topic: 1 has the fermentation project any inspiration from the anime 'space dandy'? 2 in Italy is absolutely needed to wash the chickpeas before cooking, with other legumes you can get away, but chickpeas don't forgive. 3. If you need any traditional southern italian recepies let me know. We are very peculiar about how our traditional food has to taste. Have a great time by your fine home cooking 😃

I love your food science videos! I had some sake kasu from a friend and made sake kasu crusted salmon. You got to try it next time you make sake! Koji is so magical!

When I learned that the byproduct of making koji is tamari I was immediately hooked, that's the liquid that drains out as it ferments which can be used right away.

Love that you put the moyashimon ref in XD

I live in Florida- going to try and do this this weekend and maybe leave it outside in the heat and humidity.

Best video in a very long time! I love PHC!

I bought this about 4 months ago and have been staring at it. Not having the gumption to get up to it quite yet, but again you have inspired me. Lol have a good one!

Very interesting! I heard from a very good chef that he likes to marinate things overnight in koji, because it makes things taste more like themselves.

Well, your fermentation crock is a work of art! Your comment about "a ball of sand that you could do some damage to a sibling with" was too perfect. However, no matter how many times I tell myself "it's no different than blue cheese," I'm going to have try hard to forget where miso paste comes from. At least it smells like flowers.

I literally just finished your Kombucha vid yesterday and randomly am brewing wine that calls for Koji today. Thanks for the content :)

I bought some Koji at our local Asian store a couple of years ago. I ground a little bit of it up and sprinkled it on some Chicken, Pork and Shrimp, placed it covered on a cooling rack covered with Saran wrap. After 2 days, we cooked the shrimp and ate it. Really changed the texture and flavor. It was really nice. waited 5 days for the Chicken. Liked it a lot! I don't remember what the Pork tasted like but it was a really interesting experiment. Thanks for the video. Educational as always. :)

I just ordered the book.from my local library. I'm interested in making amazake. Thanks for going all in on topics.

I CANNOT STOP WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS. Once I start...that's it. ❤❤

Love your style man!

I watched your ramen video this week and I've gone waaaaaaay down the rabbit hole. Have never really played with Asian food until recently when I made kimchi for the first time. My chickens have suddenly dropped to laying one egg a day, so eggs on toast isn't going to work anymore. But ramen only uses one egg! lol. So I've ordered a bunch of bottles of stuff, but I like to make as much as I can, so started looking up sake and mirin etc. Was actually just looking at that book on Amazon 20 minutes ago and added it to my wishlist. My birthday is coming up so that will be a great gift to ask for! I think I'm going to go nuts with this 😂😂

Great! Just got the book and it’s cool to see you making koji on a video.

I would really love to hear more about your fermentation jars!

Wow, that's super dedication! Love your videos, I'm learning a lot! :)

For those who live in a seasonal climate, an incubator is a must for any kinds of a fermentation. A very inexpensive way to build a simple incubator / dehydrator is to use any electrical heating appliance or cooking vessel with a manual switch setting, i.e. an electric blanket as a heated wrapper, an old crockpot and/or slow cooker with a manual switch set to high, an electric lunch box (preferably with no ON/OFF switch), etc., and let any inexpensive digital temperature controller with its temperature sensor put inside the cooking chamber to control and/or maintain the desired temperature to ferment.

I love three things about this video: 1. I learned something new. I didn't realize there was koji, although I love Japanese food. 2. The guide was very interesting. 3. You use biodegradable plastic wrap! That's almost what I celebrate the most! :D

@TheAkashicTraveller

Жыл бұрын

FYI any plastic product that says biodregadable on it? Isn't. It's only techniocally biodegradable in a specific industrial process which won't ever actually be done because pretty much no recycling centre takes it.

@kindaannoying

Жыл бұрын

@@TheAkashicTraveller FYI I know.

Totally remember that flour mill from the early days once you went in the the basement!

In addition to learning how to make koji, now know how to make my favorite rice (non sticky)!!! Something that I fail at, every time I make rice!

Just started a batch of koji. Hopefully I can get it right this year, make up a batch of miso for myself. Do need some weight, though. I'll have to make something suitable.

I love that you use the little microbe fellas from moyashimon for visualisation

Ok I never expected to see the microbes from Tales of Agriculture anywhere and it just made me happy to see them happy little guys. I just had to share that.

The Brod&Taylor proofer is also a good set up, it was designed for temperature controlled fermentation (sourdough, kombucha, etc). It ranges from 70°-120°F on its “proofing” setting that I use for bread, it comes with a little tray to put water on to make the environment humid! It also has a roast setting that goes even hotter that you can use for sous vide or dehydration as well which I’ve used and works great. It is an investment but I use it practically everyday.

@purpleblueunicorn

Жыл бұрын

I just commented the same thing! I went to look how much it costs and omg, it's 300$ US now. Thought I got it for 100$ over 10 years ago. Shouldn't be hard to build one using a heating mat and a PID.

@LinhTran-se4cq

Жыл бұрын

@@purpleblueunicorn oh man that’s crazy, I got mine last year as a gift and it was around $200. I don’t think it’s worth it at $300 😬 you can get scientific lab incubators that heat and cool also for almost half that price.

Great video. I recently started brewing sake and had to learn to make koji. I'm curious to experiment with the temperature of making the koji, since you noted that lower temperature brings out the umami and higher temperature brings out the sweetness. For science!

I love the smell of fresh koji! Been making my own for a bit :)

This is an insanely timely video… I ordered aspergillus oryzae spores from Modernist Pantry yesterday. 😂 I’ll definitely be among your viewers that actually tries to make their own miso… here’s to hoping!

I have Shio Koji in my fridge right now! Amazing stuff, only discovered it a few days ago.

might be a stupid suggestion... but have you tried puting and empty sheet pan filled with water so that the dehydrator remains moist throughout the day. love this video... keep up the good work!

11:19 That 1'st check-in is a great starting point for making nihonshu (Saké)

Oh wow. I found out about koji a few years ago and used it under the skin of the Christmas chicken. It was so good.

I've never heard Koji but sounds very interesting. I really like fermented foods so thank you for introducing it to us :) Also, I noticed your Bosch and Nutrimill is hiding in your basement. I found that if them on my counter, especially the mill that I use it more regularly. I do mill most all my own flour except for a little KA to add into bread. I have to admit, I'm not that impressed with traditional kneaded bread either. Like you I prefer stretch and fold method much better.

Just wanted to pop in to say thank you for making cooking so fun and easy for us! I have been watching tons of your videos recently, and today I built up the courage to break down my first chicken, and was rewarded by stumbling across the best dish I have ever made! I learned the techniques that I used to design the dish from watching you! Keep cooking!

Yeah reminds me of when i grow mushrooms.. Mycelium does smell really nice, it just smells so clean and crisp, and kinda sweet..

this is just great! thank you so much for your videos

Awww I had to drop a comment when I noticed the little guys from Moyashimon! :) Lovely and informative video!! 😊

very very interesting! enjoyed this video a lot!

Or use a plant heating mat in a plant starter tray (with cover) to start trying to make it. Just make sure the mat thermostat can adjust to your temp range.

Great job!

I’d love to see some coconut aminos in the soy sauce video 6 months from now. We have a friend with a severe soy allergy so homemade coconut aminos would be a great gift!

Very very cool!!! Gonna try this soon!

i love all of your fermentation videos! some new ideas could be preserved lemons or maybe something like mugolio (fermented pine cone syrup).