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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from North and Northeast China

Huangjiang / dajiang (yellow soybean paste; Northeast China 'big jiang')黄酱

Dajiang is the farmhouse soybean paste of Northeast China. Steamed soybeans are mashed and moulded into large blocks that grow white mould and Penicillium for about two months, then the blocks are cut up, mixed with salt brine in pottery jars and fermented in the sun for about three months, stirred every day. Huangjiang is the North China name for the same yellow soybean paste. Made in 5 steps over 5 months – 9 months. The longest step, ferment in the sun, stirring daily, takes 3–7 months (Xie S 2022) and runs at at least 20 °C (Xie S 2022). Salt is 8–12 % (Xie S 2022). Bacillus and Lactobacillus, the predominant genera in 14 farmhouse dajiang samples; Bacillus velezensis 12.95 %, Tetragenococcus halophilus 9.66 % and Lactobacillus rennini 9.48 % of bacteria and White moulds and Penicillium on the soybean blocks do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–7 monthsReported[xie2022][zhao2023]Ferment in the sun, stirring daily
Temperatureat least 20 °CReported[xie2022]Ferment in the sun, stirring daily
Salt8–12 %Reported[xie2022]Clean, cut and mix with salt brine
Fully documentedSoy and legumes5 months – 9 monthsMore soy and legumesMore from China

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA 100 kg pottery-vessel batch at a soybean paste plant in Harbin, following the farmhouse method (Xie et al. 2022). Households work by eye.
about 6 kg per blockSteamed, mashed soybeans · Moulded into blocks of about 30 × 20 × 10 cm[xie2022]
30 kgMould-ripened soybean blocks (koji), cleaned and cut small[xie2022]
70 kgWater[xie2022]
to more than 11 % (w/w)Salt · 8–12 % were compared in a study; farmhouse practice is usually above 11 %[xie2022]
Starterspontaneous moulds and bacteria on the soybean blocks

Total time across the recorded steps: 5 months – 9 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: yellow soybeans soaked and steamed soft

Step 1 of 5
Soak and steam the soybeans
Time
15 min
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Penicillium cover
Bacillus
Lactobacillus
Bacillus velezensis

Output: steamed soybeans.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
soft enough to crush by hand
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Dajiang starts, like Korean doenjang, from whole mould-ripened soybean blocks, but no soy sauce is drawn off, so the whole mash is kept as paste and stays moister and less acid.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Beijing huangjiangThe North China name for yellow soybean paste; no study of its own process was found.
  • Qimin Yaoshu soybean jiang (6th century)30 parts steamed soybeans, 10 parts wine starter, 10 parts yellow mould and 5 parts salt, incubated 3–5 weeks, then stirred into salt solution and fermented 100 days, edible after 20.

Safety

Salt above about 11 % controls the open, sun-exposed fermentation; lower salt changed the bacterial community and the biogenic amine levels in a study. Keep the jar covered from rain and stir it with clean tools.

Hazards the sources name: Pseudomonas, Enterobacter and other environmental bacteria in farmhouse dajiang.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Jiang is listed in the Zhou li, where 120 crocks were stocked for a feast. The first soybean jiang reference is in the Chi chiu p'ien (1st century BCE), and the Qimin Yaoshu (about 535) gives the first detailed recipe. In the Tang dynasty jiang was called the 'ruler of foods', and in the Southern Song it was one of the 'seven necessities' with firewood, rice, oil, salt, vinegar and tea.

  1. [xie2022] Xie S., Li Z., Sun B., Zhang Y. 2022, Impact of salt concentration on bacterial diversity and changes in biogenic amines during fermentation of farmhouse soybean paste in Northeast China, Current Research in Food Science 5, doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2022.07.012paper
  2. [liang2021] Liang T., Xie X., Ma J. et al. 2021, Microbial communities and physicochemical characteristics of traditional dajiang and sufu in North China revealed by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA, Frontiers in Microbiology 12:665243, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.665243paper
  3. [zhao2023] Zhao S., Sai Y., Liu W. et al. 2023, Flavor characterization of traditional fermented soybean pastes from Northeast China and Korea, Foods 12(17):3294, doi:10.3390/foods12173294paper
  4. [SIC-miso1] Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of miso and soybean chiang, Soyinfo Centerbook