My guests are Rich Shih and Jeremy Umansky, who just wrote a great book on Koji -  the title of which is “Koji Alchemy – Rediscovering the magic of mold-based fermentation”.  Koji is the national mold of Japan.  It is used to make almost all fermented products in Japanese cuisine, such as miso, soy sauce and sake.  Koji is also becoming a culinary keyword lately, and top chefs in the world such as Rene Redzepi and Ferran Adria have been actively utilizing it in innovative ways.  Jeremy joined us on Episode 135 and discussed his mind-blowing and effective ways to use koji.  In this episode, we will discuss what is in their fascinating new book - what koji is, why it is so special and powerful in producing great flavors, what you can make with it in both traditional and modern ways and much, much more!!!  Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.