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A. Luchuensis Spores

(3 customer reviews)

9,50€ 6,00€ incl. VAT (5,45€ excl. VAT)

A. Luchuensis, like Black Koji, is a special type of Koji which is traditionally used for making Shochu, a distilled drink.

This kind of Koji has gotten a lot of attention since it has been praised so much in the Noma Guide to Fermentation. To quote from the book: “[…] its flavor is remarkable, reminiscent of green apple and lemons. We were thrilled at Noma when we came across this special mold, because the citric acid it produces brings a sharp layer of contrast to the umami-rich flavor of koji.”

When you grow this Koji, please be aware that it can be overpowered by its more famous cousin, A. Oryzae. For this reason I recommend that you use trays/cloths that you have not used with A. Oryzae before (or clean/sterilize your equipment well) in order to avoid cross-contamination.

1.75 g of spores per bag. This is for 5 kg of substrate. It grows best on barley. Be aware that it prefers slightly lower temperatures than normal Koji. That is: 28°C instead of 30°C.

Weight 1.75 g

3 reviews for A. Luchuensis Spores

  1. Matt (verified owner) –

    I used about 1/4 of the spore packet to innoculate about 1kg of steamed pearled barley. Not much activity at 24 hrs but after a stir and 12 more hours (36 total) there was a nice even layer of white fluffy mold. Based on the directions from the noma guide I harvested and chilled the batch at that point. I agree with the tasting notes of green apple and lemon, fairly tart. Aroma was not as strong or tropical as previous batches with a light aspergillus oryzae strain.

    I used the Koji to make some amazake with some wheat berries. Equal portions wheat and Koji. The aroma from that was really interesting, like a baked apple and honey. The flavor was more simple, fairly tart with apple and lemon. Really interesting to experiment if you want some acidity in your ferment.

  2. Max Mönch (verified owner) –

    This spores are amazing. If you look for the fancy NOMA book recipes. Go for this strain. With pearled barley it develops a strong aroma of lemon and apples as described above. You will not be disappointed…

  3. Benjamin Ronald Moebius (verified owner) –

    This A. Luchuensis koji is pretty rare so I was so happy to see it on this site! The koji kin are quite powerful – I only used a maybe 1/4 teaspoon to inoculate 800 grams of barley. With the koji, I made citric koji water which we use in Japanese recipes as a stand in for sake, though the flavor profile is more sour (like a wonderfully ripe grapefruit) but still with a lot of sugar. Then we use it in western recipes as a stand in for white wine, where it is exceptional!

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