I don't know if it's regional, but it is temperature and humidity sensitive. They make tempeh in Indonesia, where it's hot and humid. They make miso in Massachusetts, where it's cold and snowy. My vinegars and Kombucha grow year round on the top of my refrigerator in N. California. The key is to create an environment that allows whatever you are fermenting to thrive. Each fermentation has different requirements.

Good news! Yesterday, with fingers crossed, I put my rice koji back on the griddle to warm back up and keep growing. It worked! I checked on it last night and could see the fluffy, white mycelium growing. I continued to let the koji sit on the griddle overnight and this morning, the rice is covered in white fluff. It smells like koji too. I don't see any mold or other infectants growing on it, so I'd say that it's good to go. I'll take pix when the sun comes up.

Today, I'm mixing my cooked soybeans with the koji, salt and miso and putting the mix in my crock to age.

Well I am not sure about what to get to make my own koji. People order the spores or the dried koji rice? The latter seems more pricey then buying miso. As for brown rice, I am big on Lundberg.

Pictures girl, pictures. LOL

We have been making stuff on and off for decades but never made miso.

I'm so sorry...I had to catch up on work and was unable to get back to post the pix. Here are some:

Cooking Brown Rice
Cooking Soybeans
Sanitizing everything by boiling

(To be continued)

More Miso making pix:

Koji Rice Cooked and ready for inoculation
Koji Rice inoculated
Koji Rice close up of inoculated rice
Soybeans mixed with Koji Rice
Homemade Miso added to soybeans and Koji

Homemeade Miso pic didn't show up in the last post here it is:

More Miso making pix:

Sanitizing weights that go inside of crock
Crock used
Using food processor to grind up soybeen/koji/miso/salt mixture
Putting miso mixture in crock and tamping down
Covering miso mixture with parchment paper and coating edges with salt

Last of the miso pix:

Putting weights on top of parchment paper
Putting cover on crock
Putting crock in a warm place by the wood burning stove

That's it! It's been a few days and some liquid is starting to develop on top of the parchment paper. That is actually Tamari, which can be spooned off and used in cooking, or it can be stirred back into the miso. This will sit about a year, or two, to make a very rich, dark miso. White miso takes only about 2-3 weeks. I'm going to start a second batch as soon as my koji starter comes in the mail.