Originally Posted by
Cheshirepat
That mushroom/miso ferment sounds amazing! I'd love to hear how that goes... so, what temp does it need to be to undergo fermentation? Do you need a special container? (I suppose I could just look that book up, lol) I've never tried anything more exotic than a sourdough starter, but I do love adventurous food!
Cheshirepat...if you are into unusual and exotic foods and like to ferment things, then you really should look into getting this cookbook. It's very thorough and sooooo much fun! I've had it for about a year and in that time, I've made homemade miso, tempeh, natto and a few other fermented things.
The Shiitake Tasty Paste requires Koji, which is a type of mold that is used to start miso, sake, shoyu, etc. It's usually grown on a bed of rice, or barley, then used in a recipe. You'll have to go shopping for that first. There are several sites that I've found that sell it. Try GEM Cultures, Cultures For Health, or South River Miso.
You'll also need a fermentation vessel, which ban be as simple as a mason jar, with a sauerkraut weight in it. I just bought a couple of special, fermentation crocks that came with weights in 2L and 5L sizes. I can hardly wait until they get here!
As for the aging...a medium, cool, dark place, around 78 degrees f is just perfect, but it can vary somewhat. I keep mine outside in a pantry and it gets colder than that at night...close to freezing. My miso came out fine in that temp. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Have fun!!!
~ C