kojin.
/ˈkəʊdʒi/ An enzyme preparation derived from various moulds, esp. Aspergillus oryzæ and closely related species, and used to bring about the fermentation involved in the production of saké, soy sauce, etc.
ΚΠ
1878 R. W. Atkinson in Nature 12 Sept. 522/2 The rice-grains are found to be covered with large quantities of fine hair-like threads, the mycelium of the fungus added. In this state it is called ‘kōji’.
1926 Thom & Church Aspergilli vi. 64 Koji in its various forms is used in several fermentations.
1953 J. Ramsbottom Mushrooms & Toadstools xxiii. 275 The Koji for the enormous fermentation industries of Japan is Aspergillus Oryzae, or closely allied species.
1960 A. E. Bender Dict. Nutrition & Food Technol. 122/1 Takadiastase. Or Koji, an enzyme preparation produced by growing the fungus, Aspergillus oryzae, on bran, leaching the culture mass with water and precipitating with alcohol.
1965 K. B. Raper & D. I. Fennell Genus Aspergillus xviii. 358 A. flavus..had been encountered frequently among cultures received from Japanese workers as isolates from commercial inoculum, or ‘koji’, for fermentation industries.
1965 K. B. Raper & D. I. Fennell Genus Aspergillus xviii. 391 The manufacture of saké is dependent upon the use of A. oryzae for the preparation of the koji used to digest rice starch and protein.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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