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Kōji (food)

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Kōji (ニホンコウジカビ, 日本麹黴, ‘nihon kōji kabi’) refers to various molds of the genus Aspergillus sp., which are traditionally used in East Asian cuisine for the fermentation of food. In Japanese, kōji refers to both the Aspergillus starter culture and mixtures of Aspergillus with wheat and soybean meal. It can be fried and eaten directly or processed to a sauce.[1]

Characteristics

[edit]
Four Aspergillus species in a Petri dish. The bottom two are strains of A. oryzae

Various types of kōji are used, including yellow, black, and white.[2][1] The kōji is stored for two to three days at 30 °C under high humidity to allow A. oryzae to grow.[3] In this process, the starch from cereals such as wheat, buckwheat or barley as well as from sweet potato is split into glucose, creating a sweet taste. Due to the amino acids glutamic acid and to a lesser extent also aspartic acid split off from the proteins during fermentation, a strong umami taste is created on the human tongue when consumed.[4][5] Depending on the Aspergillus used, culture substrate and culture conditions (temperature, pH value, salt content, humidity), different products are created in terms of composition, flavour and odour.[6] Kōji can be freeze-dried and crushed to produce spores.[7] Dried kōji-spores can be stored and transported light-protected at room temperature.

Yellow kōji

[edit]
Aspergillus sojae on soybeans and wheat

Yellow kōji is used, among other things, for the production of soy sauce,[3][4] miso,[8][9] sake,[10] tsukemono, jiang, makgeolli, meju, tapai, kōji-amazake, rice vinegar,[11] mirin, shio koji[12] and natto. Typically, for the production of soy sauce (shoyu), soybeans and sometimes also wheat are swollen in water, steamed, and possibly mixed with wheat bran roasted at 160–180 °C and ground. The enrichment with kōji creates a moist mash.[3]

There are three Aspergillus species that are used as yellow kōji:

A. oryzae has three α-amylase genes, which allows it to break down starch relatively quickly into glucose.[3] In contrast, A. sojae has only one α-amylase gene under a weak promoter and the CAAT box has a gene expression attenuating mutation (CCAAA instead of CCAAT), but has a higher enzyme activity of endopolygalacturonase and glutaminase.[3] A too rapid release of glucose from starch at the beginning of fermentation inhibits the growth of the microorganisms in the maturation phase.[3] For the breakdown of proteins to amino acids, A. oryzae strain RIB40 has 65 endopeptidase genes and 69 exopeptidase genes, and A. sojae strain SMF134 has 83 endopeptidase genes and 67 exopeptidase genes.[3] Similarly, starch-degrading enzymes (glucosidases) are more strongly expressed and protein-degrading enzymes (proteases) less strongly expressed in A. oryzae, and the odour profiles differ significantly.[17] A. sojae has 10 glutaminase genes.[18] Various mutants of A. oryzae with altered properties were generated by irradiation[3] or by the CRISPR/CAS method.[19][20][21] Similarly, mutants of A. sojae with altered properties were generated by a variant of the CRISPR/Cas method[21] or chemical mutagenesis.[22]

Black & white kōji

[edit]
Aspergillus niger on MEAOX-Agar
Aspergillus tubingensis on Czapek-Agar

Black kōji produces citric acid during fermentation, which inhibits the growth of unwanted microorganisms.[2] It is typically used for the production of Awamori.[2][12]

There are three Aspergillus species that are used as black kōji:[2]

  • Aspergillus luchuensis (synonym Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus inuii, Aspergillus nakazawai and Aspergillus coreanus, クロコウジキン / 黒麹菌 ‘kuro kōji-kin’)
  • Aspergillus niger (synonym Aspergillus batatae, Aspergillus aureus or Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus miyakoensis and Aspergillus usamii including A. usamii mut. shirousamii)
  • Aspergillus tubingensis (synonym Aspergillus saitoi and A. saitoi var. kagoshimaensis)

White kōji (Aspergillus kawachii) is an albino variant of Aspergillus luchuensis.[6] It is typically used in the production of Shochu.

History

[edit]

The process of making rice wine and fermented bean paste using moulds was first documented in the 4th century B.C.[23] In 725 AD the Japanese book Harima no Kuni Fudoki ('Geography and Culture of the Harima Province') first mentioned kōji outside of China and described that the Japanese produced kōji with fungal spores from the air.[24][25] Around the 10th century, the kōji production method underwent a change and moved from the natural sowing system in rice to the so-called tomodane. This involved cultivating kōji until spores were released and using the spores to start a new batch of production.[26] In the Meiji era, the integration of new microbiological techniques made it possible to isolate and propagate kōji in pure cultures for the first time. These advances facilitated the improvement of mushroom culture quality and the selection of desirable characteristics.[27]

It later became known that Kōji comprises different species of Aspergillus. Aspergillus oryzae was first described in 1878 as Eurotium oryzae Ahlb.[28] and in 1883 as Aspergillus oryzae (Ahlb.) Cohn.[29][30] Aspergillus luchuensis was first described in 1901 by Tamaki Inui at the University of Tokyo.[31][32][33] Genichiro Kawachi isolated a colourless mutant of A. luchuensis (black Kōji)[34][35] in 1918 and named it Aspergillus kawachii (white Kōji). Aspergillus sojae was first described as a distinct species in Kōji in 1944.[36][37] Initially, Aspergillus sojae was considered a variety of Aspergillus parasiticus because, unlike the other fungi of Kōji, it had never been isolated from the soil.[38]

Literature

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  • H. Kitagaki: Medical Application of Substances Derived from Non-Pathogenic Fungi and -Containing. In: Journal of fungi. Band 7, Nummer 4, März 2021, S. , doi:10.3390/jof7040243, PMID 33804991, PMC 8063943.
  • J. E. Smith (6 December 2012). Aspergillus. Springer US. pp. 46ff. ISBN 978-1-4615-2411-3.

References

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  1. ^ a b René Redzepi, David Zilber: The Noma Handbook Fermentation - How to make Koji, Kombucha, Shoyu, Miso, Vinegar, Garum, lacto-fermented and black fruits and vegetables and cook with them. 5th edition, A. Kunstmann, 2019. ISBN 978-3-95614-293-2.
  2. ^ a b c d S. B. Hong, O. Yamada, R. A. Samson: Taxonomic re-evaluation of black koji molds. In: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. Volume 98, Number 2, January 2014, p. 555–561, doi:10.1007/s00253-013-5332-9, PMID 24281756 (Review).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i K. Ito, A. Matsuyama: Koji Molds for Japanese Soy Sauce Brewing: Characteristics and Key Enzymes. In: Journal of fungi. Volume 7, Number 8, August 2021, doi:10.3390/jof7080658, PMID 34436196, PMC 8399179.
  4. ^ a b c C. Diez-Simon, C. Eichelsheim, R. Mumm, R. D. Hall: Chemical and Sensory Characteristics of Soy Sauce: A Review. In: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry. Volume 68, Number 42, October 2020, p. 11612–11630, doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.0c04274, PMID 32880168, PMC 7581291. (English)
  5. ^ H. N. Lioe, J. Selamat, M. Yasuda: Soy sauce and its umami taste: a link from the past to current situation. In: Journal of food science. Volume 75, Number 3, April 2010, p. R71–R76, doi:10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01529.x, PMID 20492309.
  6. ^ a b T. Futagami: The white koji fungus Aspergillus luchuensis mut. kawachii. In: Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry. Volume 86, Issue 5, April 2022, p. 574–584, doi:10.1093/bbb/zbac033, PMID 35238900.
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  14. ^ a b Martin Weidenbörner (2013). Lexicon of Food Mycology. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 19. ISBN 978-3-642-57058-2.
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  16. ^ William Shurtleff, Akiko Aoyagi: History of Koji – Grains And/or Soybeans Enrobed with a Mold Culture (300 BCE To 2012). Soyinfo Center, 2012, ISBN 978-1-928914-45-7.
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  18. ^ K. Ito, Y. Hanya, Y. Koyama: Purification and characterization of a glutaminase enzyme accounting for the majority of glutaminase activity in Aspergillus sojae under solid-state culture. In: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. Band 97, Nummer 19, Oktober 2013, S. 8581–8590, doi:10.1007/s00253-013-4693-4, PMID 23339014.
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  20. ^ F. J. Jin, S. Hu, B. T. Wang, L. Jin: Advances in Genetic Engineering Technology and Its Application in the Industrial Fungus. In: Frontiers in Microbiology. Volume 12, 2021, p. 644404, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.644404, PMID 33708187, PMC 7940364.
  21. ^ a b T. Katayama, J. I. Maruyama: CRISPR/Cpf1-mediated mutagenesis and gene deletion in industrial filamentous fungi Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus sojae. In: Journal of bioscience and bioengineering. Volume 133, Issue 4, April 2022, p. 353–361, doi:10.1016/j.jbiosc.2021.12.017, PMID 35101371.
  22. ^ J. Lim, Y. H. Choi, B. S. Hurh, I. Lee: Strain improvement of for increased l-leucine aminopeptidase and protease production. In: Food science and biotechnology. Volume 28, Issue 1, February 2019, p. 121–128, doi:10.1007/s10068-018-0427-9, PMID 30815302, PMC 6365342.
  23. ^ Meredith Leigh, Kirsten K. Shockey: Kōji: An Ancient Mold and Its Modern Renaissance – Fermentation, accessed 2023-10-01.
  24. ^ History of Kōji. accessed 2023-10-01.
  25. ^ Harima no Kuni Fudoki ‚Geografie und Kultur der Harima-Provinz‘, accessed 2024-05-15.
  26. ^ Marufuku Kōji Starters - From kojistarters koji bean sprouts until the soy sauce, miso, sake and seasonings, accessed 2023-10-01.
  27. ^ 種麹・総合微生物スターターメーカー　秋田今野商店, accessed 2023-10-01.
  28. ^ Dingler's Polytechn. J. 330 (1878).
  29. ^ Jahresbericht der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Vaterländische Cultur / Naturwissenschaftlich-medizinische Reihe (1884). Volume 61, p. 227.
  30. ^ Index Fungorum: Names Record A. oryzae, accessed 15. Mai 2024.
  31. ^ Inui Tamaki (1901). "Ryukyu awamori hakko kin chyosa houkokusyo". J. Chem. Soc. Japan. 4: 1421–1430.
  32. ^ Osamu Yamada, Masayuki Machida, Akira Hosoyama, Masatoshi Goto, Toru Takahashi, Taiki Futagami, Youhei Yamagata, etc. (2016-09-20). "Genome sequence of Aspergillus luchuensis NBRC 4314". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2018-06-05. Retrieved 2023-04-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ Takeo Koizumi (2018-04-05). "黒麹菌の役割 発酵中の雑菌繁殖防ぐ". Okinawa Times. Archived from the original on 2023-04-04. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  34. ^ K. Kitahara, M. Kurushima: Studies on the diastaic enzyme systems of molds (Third report). About the Awamori white koji mold. Part 2. Is Asp. kawachii really a mutant of black Aspergillus? In: J. Ferment. Technol. (1949), Volume 27, p. 182–183. (Japanisch)
  35. ^ K. Kitahara, M. Yoshida: Studies on the diastaic enzyme systems of molds (Third report). About the awamori white koji mold. Part 1. Morphological and several physiological characteristics. In: J. Ferment. Technol. (1949), Volume 27, p. 162–166.
  36. ^ Katsumi Yuasa, Kazuya Hayashi, Takeji Mizunuma: A new criterion by which to distinguish Aspergillus sojae, a Kōji-mold, from related taxa producing echinulate conidia. In: Agricultural and biological chemistry. 1982, Volume 46, Nummer 6, p. 1683–1686 doi:10.1271/bbb1961.46.1683.
  37. ^ Index Fungorum: Names Record A. sojae, accessed 15. Mai 2024.
  38. ^ Perng‐Kuang Chang, Kei Matsushima, Tadashi Takahashi, Jiujiang Yu, Keietsu Abe, Deepak Bhatnagar, Gwo Fang Yuan, Yasuji Koyama, Thomas E. Cleveland: Understanding nonaflatoxigenicity of Aspergillus sojae: a windfall of aflatoxin biosynthesis research. In: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2007, Volume 76, Nummer 5, p. 977–984 doi:10.1007/s00253-007-1116-4.
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