Japan

189 ferments from Japan, with how each is made.

189 entries listed here, page 1 of 2.

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Ferment	Kind	Main step	Temperature	Salt	pH
Aijiro miso (lightly sweet pale rice miso of Shizuoka)	Soy and legumes	5–20 days	56 °C	7–12 %
Akado-zuke (Aso red taro-stem pickle, "field horse-sashimi")	Vegetables	10 days		3–4 %
Akazuke / akazushi (keitomama)	Cereals and bread	2–7 days
Akita miso	Soy and legumes	at least 12 months
Akumochizake (ash-preserved sake)	Alcoholic drinks				7.2 → 5.5
Amazake (rice-koji)	Soft drinks	18 h	50–60 °C
Awa-bancha	Tea leaf	14–28 days			4.1–5.4
Awamori	Alcoholic drinks	at least 6 months
Batabata-cha	Tea leaf	30–40 days	70 °C
Bettara-zuke (sweet koji daikon)	Vegetables	24 h – 7 days		4 %
Black koji (kuro-koji)	Starters and koji	22 h	25–35 °C
Bodaimoto sake (mizu-moto)	Alcoholic drinks	17 days	35 °C		4.1
Doburoku (unpressed cloudy sake)	Alcoholic drinks	7 days
East Asian fruit wines (bayberry, mulberry, goji and plum)	Alcoholic drinks	6–15 days	17–20 °C		4.9 → 3.49
Echigo miso (uki-kōji miso, "floating-koji miso")	Soy and legumes	30 days – 3 months	28–33 °C	12.5 %
Echizen shio-uni	Fish and seafood	12 months – 3 years
Edo ama-miso (sweet red rice miso)	Soy and legumes	7–14 days	50 °C	5–6 %
Engishiki pickles (延喜式漬年料雑菜), Heian court tsukemono	Vegetables	30 days		4–5 %	3.3–5.3
Etchū miso (Toyama rice-koji miso)	Soy and legumes	6–12 months
Fermented silkworm pupae seasoning (modern)	Insects	10 days	32 °C
Fuchū miso (Hiroshima white sweet miso)	Soy and legumes	5–20 days		5–7 %
Fugu no ko nukazuke	Fish and seafood	6–18 months		30 %
Funazushi	Fish and seafood	at least 6 months		2–5 %
Gen'en and usujio shoyu (reduced- and low-salt soy sauce)	Sauces and condiments			17.5 %
Genshu, shiboritate, muroka, tobingakoi and shizuku (pressing and finishing styles)	Alcoholic drinks	21–28 days	8–18 °C
Ginjo and daiginjo sake (with junmai ginjo and junmai daiginjo)	Alcoholic drinks	6–12 months
Goishi-cha	Tea leaf	10–20 days
Gosai-zuke (Ibaraki salted saury and daikon)	Fish and seafood	14–30 days		20 %
Gozen miso (Awa, Tokushima)	Soy and legumes	2 months		11–13 %
Hakusai tatami-zuke (Kohoku folded napa pickle)	Vegetables	7 days		3 %
Hamana miso (Fukui winter koji relish with eggplant)	Soy and legumes	20 days
Hanazuke (salt-pickled edible flowers)	Vegetables	21–30 days		20 %
Hatahata-zushi	Fish and seafood	10 days – 2 months	5–10 °C		4.4–4.9
Heshiko	Fish and seafood	3–12 months	25 °C	13 %	6.2 → 5.1
Hi-no-kabura-zuke (Matsuyama scarlet turnip)	Vegetables	7 days		5 %
Hida akakabu-zuke (Hida red turnip pickle)	Vegetables	2 months		4 %
Hinona-zuke (Hino turnip bran pickle)	Vegetables	30 days		4 %
Hiroshimana-zuke (Hiroshima greens pickle)	Vegetables	6 months		2–8 %
Hiyaoroshi (autumn-release once-pasteurised sake)	Alcoholic drinks	6–12 months
Hokkaido miso	Soy and legumes	12 months – 2 years		12 %
Hon-mirin	Alcoholic drinks	30 days – 2 months	20–30 °C
Honjozo and futsu-shu (sake with added brewer's alcohol)	Alcoholic drinks	6–12 months
Iburigakko (smoked takuan)	Vegetables	at least 40 days	10–15 °C	4 %
Iga shirouri teppō-zuke (melon stuffed and pickled in miso-tamari)	Vegetables	14 days – 2 years
Ika no shiokara	Fish and seafood	5–25 days		5–20 %
Imo-jochu (sweet-potato shochu)	Alcoholic drinks	9 days
Ishiru	Sauces and condiments	12 months – 2 years		15–25 %
Ishizuchi-kurocha	Tea leaf	7–14 days			4
Iwate rice miso (Tōhoku Pacific-side karakuchi miso)	Soy and legumes	5 months	30 °C	11.4–11.9 %
Izushi (Hokkaido)	Fish and seafood	18–20 days	5 °C		6.4 → 4.9
Kabura-zushi	Fish and seafood	40 days
Kakizuke (daikon pickled with astringent persimmon)	Vegetables	30 days		3.8 %
Kansai shiro miso (sweet white rice miso); Saikyo miso is the Kyoto premium example	Soy and legumes	7–14 days		5–7 %
Kanzuke (twice cold-wind-dried daikon)	Vegetables	30 days – 2 months		5–6 %
Kanzuri (snow-bleached fermented chilli paste)	Sauces and condiments	3 years		11 %
Karikari ume (crunchy salted green plums)	Fruit	14–21 days		18 %	up to 3.5
Karimori kasuzuke (hard white-melon in mirin lees)	Vegetables	at least 21 days		20 %
Katsugen (Hokkaido lactic drink)	Soft drinks	30 min	63 °C
Katsuobushi (karebushi, honkarebushi)	Fish and seafood	6 months	27 °C
Kawachi akakabura no suzuke (Fukui)	Vegetables	7–30 days		3–4 %
Kijoshu (sake brewed with sake)	Alcoholic drinks	2 days	30 °C
Kimoto sake	Alcoholic drinks	30–32 days	22 °C
Koikuchi shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce, honjōzō brewed) — reference process	Sauces and condiments	6–8 months		17–23 %
Koji legume pastes outside soy (pea, lentil, fava, chickpea, lupin and cowpea misos)	Soy and legumes	18 months	19–21 °C	3–12 %	5
Kokuto shochu (brown-sugar shochu)	Alcoholic drinks	8 days	30 °C
Kome miso, salty light type (Shinshu miso) — reference process	Soy and legumes	2–3 months	25–30 °C	11–13 %	5
Kome-jochu (rice shochu, e.g. Kuma shochu)	Alcoholic drinks	42 h	40 °C → 30 °C
Komezu (rice vinegar) and akazu (red sake-lees vinegar)	Vinegar	at least 3 years
Konka-iwashi	Fish and seafood	6 months		10–15 %
Konowata (salted sea-cucumber gut)	Fish and seafood	2–3 days		at least 10 %
Koshu (aged sake)	Alcoholic drinks	3–53 years	up to 15 °C
Koshu koume-zuke (crunchy small ume)	Fruit	30 days		10 %	up to 3.5
Kōshū miso (rice-and-barley koji miso, Yamanashi)	Soy and legumes	12 months		12 %
Kuchikamizake (chewed-rice sake) and Okinawan/Amami miki	Alcoholic drinks	24 h – 2 days			3.7–4
Kurozu (Kagoshima pot-brewed black rice vinegar)	Vinegar	at least 6 months
Kurozukuri	Fish and seafood	24 h – 30 days	10 °C	6 %
Kusaya	Fish and seafood	10–20 h		2.7–11.1 %
Mame miso / Hatchō miso (soybean-only koji miso)	Soy and legumes	at least 10 months		10–13.6 %	4.5–5.1
Misho (末醤), Heian soybean paste	Soy and legumes
Mizukakena-zuke	Vegetables	3–4 days		3–4 %
Moriguchi-zuke (two-year lees-pickled Moriguchi daikon)	Vegetables	at least 2 years		9.2 %
Mugi-jochu (barley shochu)	Alcoholic drinks	42 h	40 °C → 30 °C
Namazake (unpasteurised sake) and once-heated nama forms	Alcoholic drinks	6 months	up to 5 °C
Nanto morohaku (Nara 'both-white' sake)	Alcoholic drinks
Narazuke	Vegetables	3–18 months		5–8 %
Narezushi (Mie, nama-nare)	Fish and seafood	20 days – 3 months		23.2 %	5.1 → 4.1
Natto (itohiki natto, whole-bean sticky natto)	Soy and legumes	24 h	5–10 °C		6.9–8.1
Nigori, origarami, jikagumi and doburoku	Alcoholic drinks	21–28 days	8–18 °C
Nishin no sushi (herring narezushi, Wakasa)	Fish and seafood	14–28 days		3 %
Nishin-zuke	Fish and seafood	30 days	5–10 °C	3 %
Nozawana-zuke	Vegetables	14–30 days	10 °C	2.5–3.3 %	4
Nuka-iwashi (Shōnai)	Fish and seafood	14 days – 6 months
Nukanishin	Fish and seafood	6 days – 12 months	20 °C	12 %	5.7
Nukazuke (rice-bran bed pickles)	Vegetables	40 days	24 °C	6 %	6 → 4
Ōno shōyu (Kanazawa umakuchi soy sauce)	Sauces and condiments	6 months		up to 18 %
Papaya-zuke (green papaya miso pickle)	Fruit	10 days		5 %
Persimmon vinegar (Korean gamsikcho, Japanese kakisu)	Vinegar	21 days – 25 years	15 °C		3–3.7
Pineapple wine (Maui Blanc and Asian pineapple wines)	Alcoholic drinks	6–8 days	22 °C		3.9 → 3.8
Probiotic and therapeutic fermented milks (family)	Fermented milk	24 h
Rakkyo-zuke (Tottori, honzuke method)	Vegetables	10–14 days		30 %
Raku, so and daigo (ancient Japanese dairy, Heian period)	Fermented milk	7–8 h			3.8
Rice koji for sake (yellow koji, kome-koji)	Starters and koji	44 h – 2 days	30–36 °C
Saba no kōji-zuke (Chizu, Tottori)	Fish and seafood	15–30 days
Saba no shiokara (Mihonoseki)	Fish and seafood	6 months		20 %
Saishikomi shoyu (twice-brewed)	Sauces and condiments	at least 18 months		15 %
Sakadane (sake-starter) bread	Cereals and bread	24 h – 3 days	25 °C		3.6
Sakamanjū (sake-starter steamed bun)	Cereals and bread	2–6 days	25 °C
Sake (base flow: junmai, sokujo starter)	Alcoholic drinks	6–12 months	10–15 °C		4.2–4.7
Salty barley miso (e.g. Nagasaki, Shimabara; reddish northern-Kantō barley miso)	Soy and legumes	3–12 months		11–13 %
Sangohachi-zuke (3-5-8 koji pickle)	Vegetables	at least 30 days		2 %
Sanpoku and Atsumi yakihata red turnip pickle	Vegetables	7 days
Sanuki shiro miso (Kagawa white miso, GI)	Soy and legumes	up to 7 days		up to 6 %
Seisai-zuke and omi-zuke (Yamagata)	Vegetables	7 days		4 %
Sendai hakusai-zuke (Sendai napa cabbage pickle)	Vegetables	14 days		4–5 %
Sendai miso (salty red rice miso)	Soy and legumes	at least 4 months	up to 30 °C	21.5 %
Senmaizuke	Vegetables	24 h – 3 days			4–6
Senshū mizunasu asazuke (water eggplant pickle)	Vegetables	2–3 months
Shakushina-zuke (Chichibu ladle-greens pickle)	Vegetables	14 days		up to 8 %
Shibazuke	Vegetables	14–30 days		2.5–4.5 %	3.4
Shikinbai (Mito crushed ume with shiso)	Fruit	4–5 days		10–15 %
Shiro shoyu (white soy sauce)	Sauces and condiments	3 months		17.9 %
Shottsuru	Sauces and condiments	at least 12 months		20 %	6
Shōyu no mi (soy-sauce 'fruit' — koji moromi relish)	Soy and legumes	at least 30 days	60 °C
Shutō	Fish and seafood	at least 6 months
So (蘇), ancient Japanese concentrated milk	Cheese	7–8 h
Soba shochu and kasutori shochu	Alcoholic drinks	42 h	40 °C → 30 °C
Sōbōshu (temple sake of medieval Japan)	Alcoholic drinks	40–50 days
Sotetsu miso / nari miso (cycad-seed miso)	Soy and legumes	30–50 days		10 %
Suguki (sugukizuke)	Vegetables	7 days	40 °C
Sunki (salt-free turnip-leaf pickle)	Vegetables	24 h		0 %	3.7–4.3
Sushiko (Tsugaru fermented rice pickle)	Vegetables	10 days		5 %	3.4–4.3
Sweet barley miso (Satsuma miso)	Soy and legumes	30 days – 3 months		9–11 %
Takana-zuke (Aso and Setaka)	Vegetables	6–12 months		4 %
Takuan (takuanzuke)	Vegetables	2–12 months	4 °C	8 %	6.4 → 5.8
Tamari	Sauces and condiments	12 months		17.9 %
Tan-shih / kan-shih (salt-free soy nuggets, historical China)	Soy and legumes	10–15 days
Tane-koji (koji spores, moyashi)	Starters and koji	5 days	30 °C
Taruzake (cedar-cask sake)	Alcoholic drinks	2–14 days	15 °C
Tofuyo (Okinawa)	Soy and legumes	28 days – 6 months	25–30 °C
Tokachi Raclette (十勝ラクレット)	Cheese	at least 56 days			at least 5.2
Umeboshi (salted dried ume)	Fruit	30 days		20 %	up to 3
Uruka	Fish and seafood	at least 3 years		13 %	up to 6
Usukuchi shoyu (light-coloured)	Sauces and condiments	6–8 months		18 %
Wasabi-zuke (wasabi in sake lees)	Vegetables	2–3 days		2 %
White koji (shiro-koji)	Starters and koji	19 h	35–38 °C
Yamahai sake	Alcoholic drinks	25–30 days	5.8–10.4 °C
Yamakawa-zuke and tsubozuke (Kagoshima pounded dried-daikon pickle)	Vegetables	6–12 months		5 %
Yatara-zuke (Shisō mixed winter pickle)	Vegetables	6 months		20 %
Yukiwari natto (and its older form, Goto natto)	Soy and legumes	15–40 days	25–33 °C
Yuzukoshō (柚子胡椒, salted yuzu peel and chilli paste)	Sauces and condiments			16–20 %

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