This week we have a one-off episode for you on koji! Koji is a Japanese fermented ingredient with analogues in other East Asian cuisines -- basically it is a grain that has some mold growing on it. But oh, the fancy foods you can make with it! Soy sauce, miso, sake, and so many other delicious things! But how does koji get made? What is the deal with the mold? And what sorts of fun things could you make at home with this fuzzy stuff?
References:

https://www.seriouseats.com/obsessed-koji-rich-shih
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214799317302047
https://academic.oup.com/bbb/article/73/1/192/5947892?login=true
https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/EC.05224-11
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0385638088901124
https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO199303041997127.page
https://www.jmb.or.kr/submission/Journal/027/JMB027-02-06_FDOC_1.pdf
https://academic.oup.com/dnaresearch/article/18/3/165/444512
https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/7/7/579/htm
https://www.marukome.co.jp/global/en/foodculture/aboutkoji/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5541148/
https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201018860404789.page
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF03253183
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jib.264
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25467120/
https://www.fermentationculture.eu/what-koji-needs/
https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2012.02691.x
https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/dry-age-shortcut-koji