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Fermentation Atlas

Starters and koji from Korea

Nuruk (wheat nuruk, Korean cake starter)누룩

Coarsely ground wheat is moistened, pressed into thick cakes and kept warm for about a month while wild moulds, yeasts and bacteria from the air and straw grow through it. The dried cake is crushed and used to turn rice starch into sugar and alcohol for makgeolli, yakju and soju. Made in 4 steps over 30 days. The longest step, incubate warm until mould grows through, takes 30 days (Bal J 2014) and runs at 35–45 °C (Bal J 2014). Aspergillus and Mucorales, Lichtheimia, Rhizomucor pusillus and Mucor do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 daysMeasured[bal2014][lee2015]Incubate warm until mould grows through
Temperature35–45 °CMeasured[bal2014][lee2015]Incubate warm until mould grows through
Fully documentedStarters and koji30 daysMore starters and kojiMore from Korea

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTraditional process with no fixed batch size; the study moisture levels are the guide given.
Coarsely ground whole wheat[bal2014][lee2015]
To 20–30 % moistureWater · Initial moisture changes which moulds and yeasts win[bal2017]
No added starter · Microbes come from the grain, the air and the wrapping[bal2016]
Starterspontaneous (wild flora from grain, air and straw)

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: Wheat is ground coarsely and dampened with water

Step 1 of 4
Grind the wheat coarsely and moisten
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus
Mucorales
Mucor
Yeasts
Moulds

Output: damp, coarse wheat meal.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
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

Nuruk is a pressed wheat cake that catches wild moulds and yeasts, while Japanese koji grows one chosen Aspergillus on loose, steamed rice.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ihwa-gok (pear-blossom nuruk)Rice-flour nuruk made in small balls.
  • Gaeryang nuruk (improved nuruk)A pure culture of Aspergillus grown on wheat flour or bran.
  • Barley and green-gram nurukOther grains in the cake.

Safety

Wild nuruk can carry aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus flavus. In one survey, 14 of 61 nuruk samples were above Korea's 15 ppb limit for cereal products, though only about 1.2–1.3 % of the toxin passed into the drinks brewed with it.

Hazards the sources name: Aspergillus flavus and aflatoxins (14 of 61 nuruk samples above 15 ppb).

History and sources

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

Nuruk has been used in Korea since the Three Kingdoms period; 46 kinds described in old texts have been made again from their recipes.

  1. [bal2014] Bal J., Yun S.H., Song H.Y. et al. 2014, Mycoflora dynamics analysis of Korean traditional wheat-based nuruk, Journal of Microbiologypaper
  2. [bal2016] Bal J., Yun S.H., Yeo S.H., Kim J.M., Kim D.H. 2016, Metagenomic analysis of fungal diversity in Korean traditional wheat-based fermentation starter nuruk, Food Microbiologypaper
  3. [bal2017] Bal J., Yun S.H., Yeo S.H. et al. 2017, Effects of initial moisture content of Korean traditional wheat-based fermentation starter nuruk on microbial abundance and diversity, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnologypaper
  4. [lee2015] Lee S.H., Baek S.Y., Kang J.E. et al. 2015, Effects of temperature on the changes of enzymatic activities and metabolite during wheat nuruk fermentation, Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters 43(4):378–384paper
  5. [yun2020] Yun J., Kim J.H., Lee J.E. 2020, Influence of aflatoxin in nuruk on the safety of starch-based alcoholic beverage, Journal of Food Sciencepaper
  6. [lee2017] Lee J.E., Lee A.R., Kim H. et al. 2017, Restoration of traditional Korean nuruk and analysis of the brewing characteristics, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnologypaper
  7. [WP:Nuruk] Wikipedia, Nuruk (history and variants only)wiki