Kojiya Sanzaemon launched "KOJI THE KITCHEN" in October, a project to explore the creation of food culture centered on koji starter. "KOJI THE KITCHEN vol.0," held as a kickoff event on October 10 and November 3, 2021, featured discussions between guests involved in fermentation and other food cultures, design, art, and more, as well as the development of unprecedented dishes using koji by food creators active in the Tokai region. By incorporating "beauty" and "fun" into the traditional industry of koji, the event made us feel the high potential for it to become a culture to be passed down to the next generation .
October 10
KOJI MEETUP in Nagoya
The kickoff event on October 10th was held online and was watched by approximately 150 people. The 29th head of Kojiya Sanzaemon, Murai Yuichiro, along with Sekiya Ken (CEO of Sekiya Brewery), Ogura Hiraku (fermentation designer), and Hamada Orito (bassist, music producer, creative director, and tea ceremony practitioner) took to the stage. They discussed the practice of cultivating culture through koji making and fermentation techniques, as well as future possibilities.
(Event archives can be found here.)
Making Koji: An Art and a Hobby
First, Murai gave a presentation on what seed koji is, the efforts Kojiya Sanzaemon has made so far, and the recent fermentation boom. While seed koji is provided as a raw material to brewing manufacturers, a fermentation movement is emerging especially in the culinary industry, with the world's most highly regarded restaurant, Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, opening a fermentation lab and using fermented foods, including Kojiya Sanzaemon's seed koji, in all of its dishes, and numerous books on fermented cooking being published.
The project views koji-making in a triangular way, saying, " We want to add high added value in the context of gourmet food and art, while at the same time lowering the barrier for people making koji for the first time to broaden the base . Until now, koji-making has only been part of the brewing process, but we want to broaden its possibilities and turn it into both an 'art' and a 'hobby.'" He explained the project's aims.
Guest Presentation
The guest presentations featured three different perspectives on fermentation and koji-making: Sekiya, a central figure in the brewing industry; Ogura, a designer who looks at fermentation culture in a new light; and Hamada, an artist and food writer who oversees the industry as a whole.
A fusion project of local community, fermentation and food
In addition to brewing sake, Sekiya Brewery (Shitara-cho, Kitashitara-gun, Aichi Prefecture), the seventh generation owner of the long-established sake brewery "Horaisen," also operates a restaurant in Nagoya that uses ingredients from the East Mikawa region, offering food that combines the region with fermentation. In addition, at the newly built "Roadside Station Shitaraka" near the head office brewery, they have opened the "Horaisen Sake Lab," where visitors can experience fermentation. The facility is designed to encourage interest not only in the sake brewing process, but also in the climate and history of the region as a whole, and Sekiya spoke about his efforts to integrate the region with fermentation and food .
A journey to the origins of fermentation is like an otherworldly experience
As a fermentation designer, Ogura has researched fermentation cultures in Japan and abroad, written books such as the long-selling book "Cultural Anthropology of Fermentation," and last year opened the "Fermentation Department" in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, which sells fermented food and daily necessities. He also proposes travel plans that take advantage of the cultural aspects of fermentation, which are deeply connected to the region, explaining , "By traveling with fermentation as the starting point, you can experience going to another world, and in the process, you can also realize the importance of locality and community . " Furthermore, he says, "Fermentation will be linked to various fields," such as by developing the fermentation robot "Nukabot," which uses digital sensors to read the metabolism of microorganisms and notify you when to care for them and when to eat them, in collaboration with a French information scientist and a Korean data scientist.
Culinary expression as a work of art
Hamada, who currently writes a serial in the food culture magazine RiCE.press titled "One meal in a lifetime," gave a presentation titled "Fermentation and art: from the perspective of food and art." He introduced the growing number of creators who express themselves through food like works of art, such as the world-renowned gastronomy and artistic cuisine created by Spanish restaurants such as El Bulli that combine science with art , and gave hints on how to add high value to koji. He also said, "If you combine art and fermentation, it's important to think about how to create an overwhelming first person (plural). Rather than getting 1,000 people to buy your product, anyone will do. You need to think about how to create empathy."
Challenge Announcement
Cafe menu using koji starter
In Vol.0, two food creators will take on the challenge of developing unprecedented menu items using koji over the course of about a month. On this day, Sho Aoyama, a luxury goods planner from Toyohashi City, announced that he would be turning coffee into koji, while Yuta Suzuki, an architect from Toyokawa City who is also in charge of developing FabCafe menu items, announced that he would be developing a cafe menu using koji.
Adding unique flavor to your coffee beans
Aoyama's challenge was to create a new flavor by turning three types of coffee beans into koji using rice koji, soybean koji, and black koji. His goal was to add koji to coffee produced in Japan to create a uniquely Japanese flavor, like the rare Southeast Asian coffee "Kopi Luwak."
Koji sauce on the cafe menu
Suzuki says, "There is a possibility that the taste will be something you can't imagine from the ingredients," and aims to create a sauce that uses black koji to give it a sour and fruity taste that goes well with sauteed pork. He aims to eventually serve the sauce in his restaurant, and will continue to make prototypes, including sorting out the key points for stably turning the ingredients into koji and finding cooking methods.
Crosstalk
Region x Design x Art x Koji
In a cross-talk between the speakers, they shared ideas on how to make koji more familiar to the general public. Ogura, who holds koji-making workshops for the general public, advised, "The general public should aim for 70 points. I think it's best to start with black koji, which is easier to handle." Hamada spoke about the potential of koji-making, saying, "It would be interesting to see how the degree of fermentation changes depending on the region and the attributes of the maker, and to compile data in real time and understand the changes," while Sekiya said, "I think one of the fun things will be seeing how the taste changes from household to household and from maker to maker."
The crosstalk was lively, with each of them discussing koji and fermentation from their own specialized perspectives, and ended with great success, with the topic still to be discussed. In the survey after the event, many comments were made that focused on the potential of koji as a gourmet food, which gave support to the two creators' challenges.
November 3
Results presentation - Gourmet food and seed koji -
(Event archives can be found here.)
On November 3rd, a presentation was held at FabCafe Nagoya, a cafe in Naka-ku, Nagoya, by two creators who had been working on their ideas for about a month. After the online event, Aoyama and Suzuki, who worked on the menu, held two mentoring sessions with Kojiya Sanzaemon researcher on their first attempt at making koji. The two saw great potential in the joy of making koji and the new value that can be created by turning it into koji. Guests included Sekiya and Hamada, as well as chef Hirose Chie.
(Top row, from left) Aoyama Sho (luxury goods planner), Suzuki Yuta (FabCafe menu developer), Hashizume Hiromasa, Takeura Mio (Kojiya Sanzaemon researcher), Sekiya Ken (CEO of Sekiya Brewery), Murai Yuichiro, Hamada Orito (artist), Hirose Chie (chef) (titles omitted)
ROAD MAP
Passing on the art of koji making to the next generation
Murai once again explained the roadmap for this project. "Through the collaboration between creators and Kojiya Sanzaemon, we will discover new and previously unknown deliciousness. By perfecting it to the point where it can be served as a delicacy in a restaurant and become something truly valuable , koji making will become an art form and gain high added value. At the same time, we will also accumulate know-how so that people who have never tried koji making can enjoy it casually. By spreading this knowledge to the general public, koji making will grow from something specialized for a select few to something more like a hobby, and will show signs of spreading. In this way, we believe that the culture of fermentation and koji will expand more than ever before and be passed on to the next generation ."
Presentation of results
Tasting and commentary
The results of each project were presented by the creators and the researchers who collaborated with them on the project.
Luxury goods planner Sho Aoyama × Hiromasa Hashizume
Changes in taste due to koji-processed coffee beans
Aoyama's work includes running a regular drip pack delivery service and running events that offer new ways to enjoy luxury items. This time, he is trying his hand at turning coffee into koji. Raw coffee beans are soaked in water, steamed, sprinkled with koji seeds to turn them into koji, and then the beans are roasted. As a result of the trial run, "the beans that were turned into black koji had a sweet flavor like lemon or brown sugar." Aoyama hopes that "the process of turning coffee into koji itself wasn't that difficult. By establishing a roasting method, people may be able to enjoy low-grade coffee that hasn't been appreciated until now."
At the venue, the guests sampled two types of coffee: "Indonesian Mandheling," made with black koji starter koji, which showed a particularly large change in taste and aroma, and "Brazil Santos," made with rice koji . Regarding "Indonesian Mandheling," Hirose commented, "It's interesting to see the harmony of deliciousness, with the fruity flavor coming later." Other comments included, "It's clearly sweet. It's a well-established taste, so it's interesting and I'm proud that koji can add an angle to the design of coffee's taste," (Murai), and "It's very refined. It smells like sweet potato," (Sekiya).
The aroma of "Brazil Santos" reminded guests of rice crackers , which prompted some guests to come up with ideas for using it in cooking. Aoyama commented, "Using it as an ingredient is a new way to use coffee. If we can repurpose beans that have been thrown away up until now because they are moth-eaten or chipped, I think it would be interesting in terms of food waste, too ."
FabCafe Menu Development: Yuta Suzuki x Mio Takeura
Installing Koji on your cafe menu
Next, Suzuki, who is involved in recipe development in the kitchen department of "FabCafe Nagoya," came up with a koji sauce to go with sautéed pork, with the idea of actually serving it at the cafe in mind. He used black koji, which grows black spores and produces citric acid, to make koji out of sweet potatoes, quinoa, rice, and other ingredients. After repeated trial and error with the idea of actually serving it at FabCafe Nagoya in mind, he created a fresh parsley sauce made with black quinoa koji, which makes the most of its sourness, and a French-style cream sauce made with black rice koji . As a way to manage and serve it in the store, he said he used heat treatment and made the koji more sour during the koji-making stage. Although he had a hard time selecting the ingredients and processing them, he said, "I started to think of koji as cute, and it was fun," talking about the appeal of caring for it as a living thing .
Guests who tried the product commented that " it works as a dish , so it could be eaten on its own," "the graininess and texture are fun," and "the appeal of fermentation would be even more apparent if it were fermented to create a thick sauce." Hirose expressed his hopes for the good compatibility of black koji with cooking, saying, "Generally, there is an image that koji, including amazake, makes things sweet. By using black koji, we learned that there is a good sourness in the world of koji as well ."
Crosstalk
The "unknown deliciousness" of koji starter and koji making in cooking
Afterwards, the guests and creators discussed the future development of koji while sharing their discoveries made during menu development. Opinions were expressed on the need for a device that would allow people to easily make koji at home, as well as key hygiene management points for making koji safely.
Hirose says, "I think of fermentation as a process of symbiosis with living things , and while it is often the product of chance, how to make it inevitable depends on human ingenuity, such as temperature control and time . I feel that pursuing this will be the key to creating something new next time."
Hamada said, "I believe the power of biotechnology will expand the world of cooking and many other things. Koji has a history and a connection to health benefits for the body, and it is an ingredient that is very Japanese, so as more and more topics emerge and connections like this are made, koji will become even more integrated into our lives ."
Sekiya offered some specific opinions, saying, "Today we looked at sauces and coffee, but there are a huge number of fermented foods out there that are made with mold other than koji. If we replaced those with koji, for example , we could try making blue cheese or bonito flakes with koji. If we try replacing the things that are usually made with mold with koji, we might be surprised at what we can make. I think that this would increase the total consumption of koji."
The presentation was also broadcast live, with approximately 50 people watching it online.
Murai expressed his gratitude, saying, "I felt the possibility that koji could become the main character. I think it was a day that opened up a new food culture . Among them, the most memorable thing was Suzuki's words, "Koji is becoming cute." That was the driving force, and the making itself is fun, and because of that, the possibilities expand. I'm glad that you had the experience." It was a meaningful opportunity to let people know the charm and new possibilities of koji.
Text: Yuki Iizuka (aomono) Photos: Lucas Kai
The fruits of KOJI THE KITCHEN vol.0, Aoyama's black koji coffee, Suzuki's black koji quinoa, and black koji cream sauce, will continue to be refined so that everyone can experience their deliciousness.
The KOJI THE KITCHEN project is an exploratory project to create a new food culture centered around koji starter.
For over 600 years since our founding in the Muromachi period, Kojiya Sanzaemon has been providing brewing manufacturers across the country with starter koji, the raw material for koji, the foundation of Japan's fermentation culture, and continuing to work with koji.
The traditional culture of "koji," which utilizes the properties of the various types of koji fungus that live in Japan, has seen a definite boom in recent years.
With the development of fermentation communities based on people who make their own rice koji, the appearance of shops and cafes selling fermented foods, and the rise of the amazake boom as a "drinkable IV drip," koji is becoming a movement that is going beyond being just a raw material for making products such as soy sauce, miso, and sake.
And in world-famous restaurants such as Noma , koji-making and fermentation have become new culinary techniques, elevated to a gourmet identity, and various ways to utilize koji starter are being discovered one after another, expanding its possibilities in every direction.
Through the KOJI THE KITCHEN project, Kojiya Sanzaemon will collaborate with various ideas in the four fields of koji-related art, science, design, and engineering to explore and unveil previously unknown deliciousness created with koji starter.
Kojiya Sanzaemon will continue to explore and create a new food culture using koji together with all of our colleagues who share an interest in the possibilities of fermentation and koji, and will build a future base for fermentation culture starting from the Higashi Mikawa region.