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Starters and koji from Thailand

Loog-pang (Thai starter balls)ลูกแป้ง

Loog-pang is a dry Thai starter ball of rice flour with garlic, pepper and other spices. The balls are dusted with old starter, kept at room temperature for two to five days while moulds and yeasts grow, then dried. Crumbled onto steamed glutinous rice, they make sweet khao mak or sato rice wine.

Fully documentedStarters and koji11 days – 14 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe herb amounts are a university lab formula for a black glutinous rice sato starter. Village recipes vary by region and are not fixed.
Glutinous rice flour (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa powder)100 g[rattanasuk2026]
Powdered garlic, ginger, galangal, liquorice root, black pepper and cinnamon1.5 g each[rattanasuk2026]
Powdered long pepper (Piper longum)0.5 g[rattanasuk2026]
Mould and yeast inoculumSelected mould and yeast cultures in the lab recipe; traditionally old starter powder dusted over the balls[rattanasuk2026][roongrojmongkhon2020]
Water[roongrojmongkhon2020]
Starterback-slop: powder of an old starter dusted over the balls

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 days – 14 days

Start
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What changes: Rice flour is mixed with garlic, pepper and other spices

Step 1 of 5
Grind rice and mix with spices and water
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts
Aspergillus oryzae
Pichia kudriavzevii

Output: spiced rice dough.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
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

Loog-pang is a dry Thai starter ball of rice flour with garlic, pepper and other spices. The balls are dusted with old starter, kept at room temperature for two to five days while moulds and yeasts grow, then dried. Crumbled onto steamed glutinous rice, they make sweet khao mak or sato rice wine. Made in 5 steps over 11 days – 14 days. The longest step, use on steamed glutinous rice, takes 8 days (Rattanasuk S 2026). Amylomyces rouxii, Aspergillus oryzae and A. niger and Saccharomycopsis fibuligera do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step8 daysReported[rattanasuk2026]Use on steamed glutinous rice
Temperature40 °CReported[rattanasuk2026]Dry and store sealed

What makes this one different

Loog-pang is the Thai member of the rice-ball starter family with ragi and xiaoqu. Studies of khao mak starters look for strong sugar-making moulds that give little alcohol; studies of sato starters look for alcohol-tolerant yeasts.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Loog-pang khao makFor sweet khao mak; its moulds make strong glucoamylase and its main yeast, Saccharomycopsis fibuligera, makes little alcohol.
  • Loog-pang satoFor rice wine; selected alcohol-tolerant yeasts reached 16.0 % ethanol in a lab sato.

Safety

A. oryzae is close to A. flavus, which makes aflatoxin, so the 2020 study of khao mak starters from 12 provinces checked its mould isolates for aflatoxin on coconut agar medium. The A. oryzae isolate UD01 showed none, which also confirmed it was A. oryzae and not A. flavus.

Hazards the sources name: Aflatoxin from A. flavus, a close relative of A. oryzae (the A. oryzae isolate UD01 from a khao mak starter made none on coconut agar).

History and sources

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

Loog-pang-khao-mak has been used for decades as a Thai starter for fermented foods (Roongrojmongkhon et al. 2020). A 1977 survey by Pichyangkura and Kulprecha, cited in the FAO 1999 bulletin, found Amylomyces, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Mucor and Absidia moulds in loog-pang from various sources in Thailand.

  1. [roongrojmongkhon2020] Roongrojmongkhon N., Rungjindamai N., Vatanavicharn T., Ochaikul D. 2020, Isolation and identification of fungi with glucoamylase activity from Loog-pang-khao-mak (a Thai traditional fermentation starter), Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology 14(1), doi 10.22207/JPAM.14.1.24paper
  2. [rattanasuk2026] Rattanasuk S., Thinthapthai K., Khamthawi N. 2026, Development of a functional Loog-pang starter using selected yeast and fungal strains for black glutinous rice Sato fermentation, The Scientific World Journal 2026:e2063235paper
  3. [fao138] Haard N.F., Odunfa S.A., Lee C.H., Quintero-Ramírez R. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, chapter 3 (citing Pichyangkura and Kulprecha 1977)gov