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Soy and legumes from Japan — Nagano

Shōyu no mi (soy-sauce 'fruit' — koji moromi relish)醤油の実

Shōyu no mi is a chunky relish of koji-fermented soybeans ripened in soy sauce, eaten on rice like a soy sauce you can eat. In Nagano, steamed soybeans are grown into bean koji, mixed with rice koji and steeped in warm soy sauce and water for a month or more. In Yamanashi, a dried form is made from leftover soy-sauce beans and barley koji.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes35 days – 36 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe MAFF Nagano household recipe ("an amount easy to make", from a Nagano agricultural extension book). The bean koji is made from 18 L of soybeans; 2 L of it goes into one batch of the relish.
Soybeans (for the bean koji)18 L[maff-nagano]
Koji spores (tane-kōji)As needed[maff-nagano]
Wheat flour1 cupDry-roasted and mixed with the koji spores[maff-nagano]
Bean koji2 L[maff-nagano]
Rice koji2 L[maff-nagano]
Soy sauce2 cups[maff-nagano]
Water3 cups[maff-nagano]
Starterkoji spores (tane-kōji) on the beans, plus rice koji

Total time across the recorded steps: 35 days – 36 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a bean

What changes: Washed soybeans soak a full day and night

Step 1 of 5
Soak the soybeans a day and a night
Time
24 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Aspergillus oryzae

Output: soaked beans.

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

Shōyu no mi is a chunky relish of koji-fermented soybeans ripened in soy sauce, eaten on rice like a soy sauce you can eat. In Nagano, steamed soybeans are grown into bean koji, mixed with rice koji and steeped in warm soy sauce and water for a month or more. In Yamanashi, a dried form is made from leftover soy-sauce beans and barley koji. Made in 5 steps over 35 days – 36 days. The longest step, steep the koji in warm soy sauce and stir, takes at least 30 days (MAFF) and runs at 60 °C (MAFF). Koji mould, Aspergillus oryzae or A. sojae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[maff-nagano]Steep the koji in warm soy sauce and stir
Temperature60 °CReported[maff-nagano]Steep the koji in warm soy sauce and stir

What makes this one different

Shōyu no mi is eaten as the solid mash, not pressed into a sauce. Kagawa's shōyu mame, made from broad beans, is a different food.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Yamanashi (Ashiyasu) dried shōyu no mi2–4 shō (2.6–5.2 kg) soybeans soaked overnight, boiled about 4 h to natto softness, dried 1 h, mixed with one sheet (about 1 kg) of crumbled barley koji and spread 3–4 cm deep on thin straw in a wooden box under towels and blankets at about 20 °C. When white mould ("flowers") shows, it is mixed; when black flowers cover the beans, it is dried. To eat, it is soaked in water with a little sake and is ready in about a week. It began as the beans left over from home soy-sauce making.
  • Shōyu-kasu shōyu no miIn some districts the press cake left from soy-sauce making was itself called shōyu no mi, shoya no mi or shoi no mi and eaten with rice.
  • Roasted-bean moromi (Wikipedia)Koji of soybean, rice and barley with roasted soybeans or black beans added, packed with raw soy sauce.

Safety

It is an active ferment; above room temperature it keeps fermenting and sealed bags can swell or burst, so keep it cool.

History and sources

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

Once made in every household, it is now mostly bought from koji shops, miso and soy-sauce makers, roadside stations and supermarkets.

  1. [maff-nagano] MAFF, うちの郷土料理 (Our regional cuisines), しょうゆ豆/しょうゆの実 長野県 (recipe from 「つけものの味ふるさとの味」, Nagano Agricultural Improvement Association)gov
  2. [YAMANASHI-SHOYUNOMI] Yamanashi Prefecture, やまなしの食データベース しょうゆの実 (updated 2023-03-20)gov
  3. [KIKKOMAN-26] Fukudome N., Utsunomiya Y., 郷土料理からみた醤油の地域特性 (Regional features of soy sauce seen in local dishes), Kikkoman Institute for International Food Culture, FOOD CULTURE No. 26, pp. 8–25web
  4. [JA-WIKI-醤油の実] Japanese Wikipedia, 醤油の実wiki
  5. [ito2021] Ito K., Matsuyama A. 2021, Koji molds for Japanese soy sauce brewing, characteristics and key enzymes, Journal of Fungi 7(8):658, doi:10.3390/jof7080658 (review of soy sauce koji molds)paper