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    About Oryza Guru

    Historical Landmark

    Welcome to Oryza Guru

    Koji refers to malted grains in East Asia and has been used for wine brewing for a long time. In Japan, the brewing process have been well developed and became an unique culinary tradition. It's not only for producing sake, but also for making rice vinegar, shoyu (soy sauce), miso and etc.

     

    With the development of modern microbiology, koji mold is identified as Aspergillus Oryzae, a filamentous fungus. Meanwhile, advancement in fermentation technology finally put traditional brewing in history. In addition, new applications are revealed in health and beauty industry. In 2005, its genome was sequenced and analyzed.

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    More recently, globalization and internet bring people and their cuisine together. Interests in koji are surging. A Norway company is making bread with koji. Dry aged beef lovers in United States found koji can shorten its cure time. Shio koji are found in Paris' restaurant. Health and beauty industry has been developing active ingredients with koji.  

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    Inspired by this creativity, we started Oryza Guru. Our passion is to explore innovative applications of koji fermentation in contemporary American cuisine. 

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