Fermentation Support Forum

Does anyone have any experience growing fungal based enzymes using Aspergillus oryzae or other fungus?

If so please let me know where I can find more info on how it's done and where I can get the fungus to start the process.

Thanks

majji wrote:where I can get the fungus to start the process.
Thanks

I'm also interested in that question and have found similar lack of answers. This is what I think, however. The place to find the fungus is in your kitchen on food with fungus growing on it. The problem then becomes one of encouraging the particular microbe you want and then identifying it. I believe soft, boiled beans are its favorite food, but I could be wrong. Perhaps one could ask a school what medium is used to culture it?

To identify it, I guess Google images would be your best bet. Here is a picture of it growing on an ear of corn -- http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mR8FYGlJD1o/T ... dycorn.jpg -- maybe grow some corn and hope it rots? :-)

Perhaps if you looked through google images you could go to the websites they are on and find some useful information. I found this site for an enzyme formula vitamin supplement ($28.95) that lists a. oryzae on the ingredient list, but I'm not sure if that means it has the live fungus in it or not. -- http://www.prasadabeauty.com/prod_one.c ... 1_holder=0

The other thing you might do is buy the stuff it's made with, like koji or miso, as long as there is still some live culture in it, but I have tried that and was unsuccessful in getting a ferment from it so perhaps the koji and miso available in stores has been sterilized. I don't have any ethnic Asian stores around where I could go and ask if they have any live stuff for sale.

Peace and love,
Charlotte

The culture(s) can be ordered from GEM Cultures - don't know of any other reliable source at this point.

If you're talking about isolating the enzymes, I have no idea how to do this. But koji-ken will act on a variety of substrates, producing mainly diastatic enzymes. You can make koji from beans, rice, wheat, barley, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or just about anything starchy.

Using the basic technique for making amazake (mashing starchy substrates with koji at ~150F) will extend the action of the diastatic enzymes to a larger quantity of starch than has not been directly cultured.

If you order from GEM, they'll send clear instructions for making both koji and amazake. If you plan to deviate from basic substrates like rice, barley or soy, you'll have to get creative and experiment a bit. The trick to getting good koji is a fully-hydrated, but not soggy or damp, substrate, and good temperature control. This is fairly easy with grains, but becomes more difficult with things like potatoes.

I am also interested in growing enzymes using oryzae and I was searching on the net for growing enzymes using them. While browsing for it I found that Oryzae is also high in several phosphatise activities increasing the bioavailability of phosphate as energy source to increase metabolism in the inoculated microbes those in the surrounding environment.