Article
Article
- Botany
- Eumycota (or Eumycetes)
- Koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae)
- Food Science & Technology
- Foods
- Koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae)
Koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae)
Article By:
Takagi, Shinobu Novozymes Japan Limited, Mihamaku, Chiba, Japan.
Last reviewed:September 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.900130
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- Koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae), published June 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Koji mold
- Koji production (solid-surface fermentation)
- Mystery of origin
- Taka-diastase
- Production of industrial enzymes
- Host organism for enzyme production
- Genomics
- Related Primary Literature
- Additional Reading
A mold that is one of the most widely used fungi in industry. Especially with regard to the Japanese way of life, Aspergillus oryzae, a type of koji mold (Fig. 1), is quite indispensable, being an essential substance of traditional foods and beverages, such as miso (soybean paste), shoyu (soy sauce), and sake (rice wine). Koji, that is, the culture of koji mold on soybean, rice, or wheat, is mixed with the substrate and together they are fermented to produce foods. This tradition has been followed for at least 500 years in Japan. Such a long history of food use suggests that koji mold is safe enough to apply in various industrial processes. In addition to its safety, koji mold has the attractive feature of possessing a high ability to produce a variety of natural enzymes. In addition, the modern utilization of koji mold for industrial enzyme purposes has involved advanced gene technologies. See also: Fermentation; Food fermentation; Food manufacturing; Food microbiology; Fungal biotechnology; Fungi; Recombinant fungal biotechnology; Rice; Soybean; Wheat
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