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Soy and legumes from China

Douchi (fermented black soybeans)豆豉

Black soybeans are soaked, steamed and spread in a warm room until a mould coats them, then washed and piled so the heap heats up and the beans darken and turn savoury. They are salted or left unsalted and sun-dried into the dark, raisin-like beans used to season Chinese dishes.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes16 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe amounts describe one industrial Liuyang (Hunan) process, where solid salt at 2 % w/w goes into the pile for its last two days. Salt, mould and timing vary by region.
Black soybeansSoaked and steamed[jiang2025][tang2025]
Salt2 % w/w in one Liuyang process; salt-free types also existLiuyang douchi is low in salt; salted types elsewhere are aged with salt water, ginger, spices or sometimes rice wine[tang2025][sic-nuggets]
Startermould grown in a qu room; in Liuyang the traditional manual process relies on spontaneous fermentation

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 days

Start
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What changes: Black soybeans soak and steam until soft

Step 1 of 5
Soak and steam the beans
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Aspergillus
Mucor
Rhizopus

Output: steamed beans.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
soft
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Black soybeans are soaked, steamed and spread in a warm room until a mould coats them, then washed and piled so the heap heats up and the beans darken and turn savoury. They are salted or left unsalted and sun-dried into the dark, raisin-like beans used to season Chinese dishes. Made in 5 steps over 16 days. The longest step, grow the mould (qu-making), takes 12 days (Jiang L 2025) and runs at 28–32 °C (Jiang L 2025). Salt is 2 % (Tang H 2025). Aspergillus, the mould of the qu stage and Mucor or Rhizopus in Mucor- and Rhizopus-type douchi do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 daysReported[jiang2025]Grow the mould (qu-making)
Temperature28–32 °CReported[jiang2025]Grow the mould (qu-making)
Salt2 %Reported[tang2025]Pile-ferment, then salt

What makes this one different

Douchi is a whole-bean ferment with a mould stage, like miso koji, but the mould is washed off and the beans are piled hot and dried whole instead of mashed into paste. Bacillus-only relatives such as natto skip the mould.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Liuyang douchi (Hunan)Aspergillus type, low in salt.
  • Yangjiang douchi (Guangdong)Aspergillus type; moulds lead early, then yeasts.
  • Yongchuan douchi (Chongqing) and Tongchuan douchi (Sichuan)Yongchuan douchi is a Mucor type. The brewing skills of both are national intangible heritage, listed in 2008.
  • MianchiYellow soybeans instead of black; mould-fermented.
  • Douchi sauce (black bean paste)Douchi blended with garlic and soy sauce.
  • Tau-si / tao-si (Philippines, Malaysia)Philippine and Malaysian soy nugget sauce.

Safety

The hot core of the pile built up the most biogenic amines (47.70 mg/kg total) in one Liuyang study, and bacteria such as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia made them in lab cultures. In those cultures temperature changed the output differently by strain; Bacillus velezensis made more at 35 °C than at 45 or 55 °C.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Soy nuggets are among the oldest known soy foods. A container of them was found in Western Han Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, sealed in about 168 BC. The Qimin Yaoshu (about AD 535) gives four recipes, including salt-free nuggets dried after a few days of fermentation.

  1. [jiang2025] Jiang L., Chen Y., Zhao T. et al. 2025, Analysis of differential metabolites in Liuyang douchi at different fermentation stages based on untargeted metabolomics, Food Chem X 25:102097, doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2024.102097paper
  2. [tang2025] Tang H., Du Q., Liu Y. et al. 2025, Thermally-driven bacterial mechanism of biogenic amines enrichment in central pile-fermentation zones of Liuyang Douchi, Food Chem X 31:103143, doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2025.103143paper
  3. [song2025] Song D., Zhong X., Wu Y. et al. 2025, From artisan experience to scientific elucidation, preparation processes, microbial diversity, and food applications of Chinese traditional fermentation starters (qu), Foods 14:3814, doi:10.3390/foods14223814paper
  4. [sic-nuggets] Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Soy Nuggets (Shih/Chi, Douchi, Hamanatto), SoyInfo Centerbook
  5. [WP-Douchi] English Wikipedia, Douchiwiki
  6. [ZH-豆豉] Chinese Wikipedia, 豆豉wiki