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Starters and koji from Korea

Nuruk (wheat nuruk, Korean cake starter)누룩

Ground wheat is moistened, shaped into a large cake and fermented warm, for 30 days in the studies cited, while moulds, yeasts and bacteria grow in it with no culture added. The cake is ground and used to turn rice starch into sugar and alcohol for makgeolli, yakju and soju.

Fully documentedStarters and koji30 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTraditional process with no fixed batch size; the study moisture levels are the guide given.
WheatWhole grain, grits or flour[fao138][song2022][bal2014][lee2015]
WaterTo 20–30 % moistureInitial moisture changes which moulds and yeasts win[bal2017]
No added starterMade by natural fermentation; Bal et al. call nuruk a traditional natural starter[fao138][bal2016]
Starterspontaneous (natural fermentation, no culture added)

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: Wheat is ground and dampened with water

Step 1 of 4
Grind the wheat and moisten
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus
Mucorales
Mucor
Yeasts
Moulds

Output: damp wheat meal.

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

Ground wheat is moistened, shaped into a large cake and fermented warm, for 30 days in the studies cited, while moulds, yeasts and bacteria grow in it with no culture added. The cake is ground and used to turn rice starch into sugar and alcohol for makgeolli, yakju and soju. Made in 4 steps over 30 days. The longest step, incubate warm until mould grows through, takes 30 days (Bal J 2014) and runs at 35–45 °C (Bal J 2014). Aspergillus and Mucorales, Lichtheimia, Rhizomucor pusillus and Mucor do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 daysReported[bal2014][lee2015]Incubate warm until mould grows through
Temperature35–45 °CReported[bal2014][lee2015]Incubate warm until mould grows through

What makes this one different

Nuruk is a pressed wheat cake that catches wild moulds and yeasts, while Japanese koji grows one chosen Aspergillus on loose, steamed rice.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Rice and barley nurukWheat is the most common grain, but rice and barley are also used; one study's nuruk mixed barley, green gram and wheat.

Safety

Wild nuruk can carry aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus flavus. In one survey, 14 of 61 nuruk samples were above Korea's 15 ppb limit for cereal products. Drinks brewed from those samples held only aflatoxin G1, at 0.3 ppb, about 1.2–1.3 % of the amount in the nuruk. The authors still call for less aflatoxin in nuruk.

Hazards the sources name: Aspergillus flavus and aflatoxins (14 of 61 nuruk samples above 15 ppb).

History and sources

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

Wikipedia gives the Three Kingdoms period in the 3rd century CE for the first use of nuruk in Korea, while the FAO bulletin says cereal starters (chu) were in common use for rice wine in Korea from the beginning of the Three Nations period, between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. In 2017 Lee et al. made 46 kinds of nuruk again from old documents.

  1. [bal2014] Bal J., Yun S.H., Song H.Y. et al. 2014, Mycoflora dynamics analysis of Korean traditional wheat-based nuruk, Journal of Microbiology (abstract)paper
  2. [bal2016] Bal J., Yun S.H., Yeo S.H., Kim J.M., Kim D.H. 2016, Metagenomic analysis of fungal diversity in Korean traditional wheat-based fermentation starter nuruk, Food Microbiology (abstract)paper
  3. [bal2017] Bal J., Yun S.H., Yeo S.H. et al. 2017, Effects of initial moisture content of Korean traditional wheat-based fermentation starter nuruk on microbial abundance and diversity, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (abstract)paper
  4. [lee2015] Lee S.H., Baek S.Y., Kang J.E. et al. 2015, Effects of temperature on the changes of enzymatic activities and metabolite during wheat nuruk fermentation, Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters 43(4):378–384 (abstract)paper
  5. [yun2020] Yun J., Kim J.H., Lee J.E. 2020, Influence of aflatoxin in nuruk on the safety of starch-based alcoholic beverage, Journal of Food Science (abstract)paper
  6. [lee2017] Lee J.E., Lee A.R., Kim H. et al. 2017, Restoration of traditional Korean nuruk and analysis of the brewing characteristics, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology (abstract)paper
  7. [fao138] Lee C.-H. 1999, Cereal fermentations in countries of the Asia-Pacific region, in Haard N.F. et al., Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, chapter 3gov
  8. [song2022] Song Y.R., Lim B.U., Baik S.H. 2022, Microbial diversity and volatile flavor changes during Gayangju fermentation, a traditional Korean house rice wine, Foods 11(17):2604paper
  9. [wong2023] Wong B., Muchangi K., Quach E., Chen T., Owens A., Otter D., Phillips M., Kam R. 2023, Characterisation of Korean rice wine (makgeolli) prepared by different processing methods, Current Research in Food Science 6:100420paper
  10. [WP:Nuruk] Wikipedia, Nuruk (history and variants only)wiki