Starters and koji

Also called 黒麹, awamori koji, Aspergillus luchuensis koji.

koji for awamori and some shochu

1. Incubate black koji40–45 h · 35–40 °C

Safety: Black spores make a dusty, staining workplace (historical reason white koji was adopted).

• Wikipedia, Koji (outline only)
• Wikipedia, Awamori (outline only)
• Wikipedia, Shōchū (outline only)

powdered starter for tapuy and binubudan (sweet fermented rice); also for basi in Ilocos

• Wikipedia, Tapuy (outline only)
• Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016

Also called 胡葉湯神麴.

light, fragrant wine; the text says 'too much rice makes it sweet' is a misunderstanding of the end-point

1. Make cakes in the first half of the 7th month
2. Incubateturn day 7; heap day 14; string 50 cakes per cord on day 21 and hang indoors out of sun; after 5 more days hang outdoors in sun by day and dew and frost by night
3. Prepare qu for brewing20 days
4. Soak qu (清麴)15 days
5. Repeated additionsfirst 4 dou millet; after 1–2 nights 6 dou; third 7–8 dou; then as strength allows; every 2–3 nights
6. Press and store

• Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 64

Also called មេដំបែ, mae, dombae, buh, puh.

starter for Cambodian rice wine (sraa)

1. Lab-scale use: steam soaked red rice, cool, add 2 % starter
2. Solid-state aerobic mould phase3 days
3. Add water for the alcoholic phase+7 days (10 total)

• Ly et al., "Impact of Microbial Composition of Cambodian Traditional Dried Starters (Dombea) on Flavor Compounds of Rice Wine", Front. Microbiol. 2018

starter for jou gwran / jumai (Bodo rice beer)

• (listed in NE Indian starter reviews; not fetched this round)

Also called 麸曲, bran koji, Yantai method qu.

cheap, fast enzyme source for 'fuqu' baijiu (lower cost, lighter flavour than daqu)

1. Moisten and steam bran
2. Inoculate pure Aspergillus and grow in boxes or ventilated beds24 h – 2 days · 30–40 °C

Also called 고리, 古里, 高里, gori.

vinegar starter and goori vinegar

1. Make goori from wheat (method in Sangayorok and Suun japbang)
2. Brew goori vinegar (고리초, 古里酢)

• Lim & Cha 2010, KJFC 25(6):680–707

starter for atingba (Manipuri rice beer) and its distillate yu

1. Pound soaked rice and mix with bark filtrate30 min
2. Press into flat cakes with old hamei
3. Incubate over the hearth on paddy husk or straw2–5 days
4. Air-dry

• Jeyaram et al. 'Hamei' (cited in [BORA2016] reference list)
• Singh P.K., Singh K.I. 2006, Traditional alcoholic beverage, Yu of Meitei communities of Manipur, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 5(2):184–190
• Devi P., Suresh Kumar P. 2012, Traditional, ethnic and fermented foods of different tribes of Manipur, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 11(1):70–77
• Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review: Diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377

Also called 河東神麴, herbal-decoction wheat qu.

millet wine; 1 dou qu ferments 1 dan millet (glutinous millet makes thin wine)

1. Mix qu with cooled herb decoction; pound 1,000 strokes; square-mould cakesmade on the 7th of the 7th month, or before the 20th
2. Lie-down incubation (卧麴法)7 days
3. Soak qu10 days
4. Add millet in many steps15 days · 11 °C
5. Summer test and storagein the 5th month, a bowl of each jar is set in the sun; good wine does not change colour

• Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 64

Also called 高温大曲, jiangxiang daqu, Maotai qu.

dark, aromatic wheat brick: saccharifying, fermenting and aroma starter for jiangxiang baijiu

1. Crush wheat and mix with water and 'mother qu'minutes
2. Tread into bricks (cai qu)minutes per brick
3. Stack in qu room under straw40 days
4. Turn bricks (fan qu)turned ~2 times, ~day 7 and day 14 (typical)
5. Dry and storeat least 3 months

• "Microbial enzymes: the bridge between Daqu flavor and microbial communities", Food Innovation and Advances 2024
• "Taorong-type Baijiu starter: fungal community of middle- and high-temperature Daqu", PLOS ONE 2022
• Wikipedia (zh), 酱香型白酒 (outline only)
• search summary: high-temperature daqu Southern Sichuan–Northern Guizhou study https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11853950/

Also called 红曲, 紅麴, 紅糀, angkak, red koji, beni-koji.

deep red grains used as starter + colorant for hongqu jiu (red rice wine), red rice vinegar, fermented red tofu, char siu, Fujian red-lees (hongzao) dishes, Okinawan tofuyo, Japanese akaisake

1. Soak and steam rice
2. Inoculate and incubate in warm room3–6 days · 30–40 °C
3. Dry, pierce and thread on bamboo strips, hang above stove

Safety: Red yeast rice contains monacolin K, the same compound as the drug lovastatin, so it can interact with medicines. Some Monascus strains make citrinin, a kidney toxin.

• Wikipedia, Red yeast rice (outline only)
• Wikipedia, Sake, akaisake (outline only)
• Hong Qu glutinous rice wine starters, Food Sci. Biotechnol. 2016 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10068-016-0115-6 (search summary)

Also called 黃衣, 黃蒸, Northern Wei loose mould starters.

loose-grain mould starter, an ancestor of koji

1. Soak wheat until sour, drain and steam
2. Spread on mats and cover with reed leaves7 days
3. Sun-dry without winnowing off the coat

Safety: Spontaneous mould starters can carry aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus.

• Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 68, Wikisource text
• Huang H.T. 2000, Science and Civilisation in China Vol. 6 Part V: Fermentations and Food Science, Cambridge University Press

Also called 黃蒸, yellow steamed.

loose starter; the text says it makes jiang red and tasty

1. Steam moistened flour, spread to cool, cover as for huangyi7 days

Safety: Do not winnow off the coat.

• Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 68

Also called ikpiru, iku-iru.

additive added at the end of the second cooking of néré cotyledons to make Beninese iru

1. Cook seeds with Boerhavia erecta leaves, stems and roots1 h
2. Ferment in covered calabashes with B. erecta roots36 h optimal; studied to 96 h
3. Pound, sun-dry, mix with pepper (iku-iru)days

• Agbobatinkpo PB, Azokpota P, Hounhouigan JD. Dynamique de la fermentation des graines de bissap pour la production du yanyanku et du ikpiru. Annales des Sciences Agronomiques 2019;23(2):171-182
• Zannou O, Chabi IB, Koca I. Some traditional fermented food from African locust beans (Parkia biglobosa): production and volatile compounds. GSJ 2018;6(9):673-

Also called 酵子, 老面, 老酵, 干酵子, jiaozi, laomian.

Jiaozi is a Chinese traditional starter for steamed buns (mantou). A grain base such as wheat flour, rice, corn flour or bran is mixed with water, fermented naturally again and again, and air-dried into crumbs or powder that keep between bakes. It carries a mixed culture led by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum.

1. Mix the grain base with water and old dough
2. Let it ferment naturally, repeatedly
3. Air-dry into crumbs or powder
4. Revive in warm water and flour

Safety: One study notes that these mixed starters may even contain pathogenic bacteria along with yeasts, lactic bacteria, Bacillus and Acetobacter. The finished buns are steamed.

• Yang H.Y., Zhang G.H., He G.Q. 2013, Biodiversity of microorganisms in Chinese traditional starter cultures ecosystem (传统面食发酵剂中菌群多样性的研究), Modern Food Science and Technology 29(9):2115–2119
• Liu T.J., Li Y., Wu S.R., Jin L.T., Zhang G.H., Yang H.Y., He G.Q. 2014, Isolation and identification of bacteria and yeast from Chinese traditional sourdough (传统酸面团中细菌与酵母菌的 分离与鉴定), Modern Food Science and Technology 30(9):114–120, doi:10.13982/j.mfst.1673-9078.2014.09.020
• Liu Y., Zhang C., Gao L.L., Zhang K.Y., Yan M.H., Zhang G.Z. 2022, Influence of bacterial flora and flavor substances in the process of dough fermentation (老面对面团发酵过程中菌群结构及风味物质的影响), Journal of Henan University of Technology (Natural Science) 43(3):65–73

Also called ลูกแป้ง, look-pang, luk paeng, loogpang khao mak, loogpang lao.

starter for khao mak, sato, ou (jar wine), lao khao (distilled)

1. Grind rice with herbs and shape small balls
2. Incubate and dryfew days (typical)

• "Isolation and Identification of Fungi with Glucoamylase Activity from Loog-pang-khao-mak", J. Pure Appl. Microbiol
• Wikipedia, Tapai (outline only)
• Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016
• JIRCAS rice database https://www.jircas.go.jp/project/DB11/rice2815.html

Also called 低温大曲, 清香大曲, Fenjiu qu, qingxiang daqu.

Peak only 40–50 °C (some papers 45–50). The core microbes are Thermoactinomyces, Lactobacillus, Saccharopolyspora, Bacillus and Streptomyces, with the fungi Saccharomycopsis and Thermoascus. Fenjiu blends three sub-types made on different temperature curves (qingcha, hongxin, houhuo).

Made like High-temperature daqu (gaowen daqu, for sauce-aroma baijiu).

• "Microbial enzymes: the bridge between Daqu flavor and microbial communities", Food Innovation and Advances 2024
• Low-temperature daqu from eastern Anhui for strong-aroma baijiu, All Life 18, 2025, doi:10.1080/26895293.2025.2477465
• Low-temperature daqu with tartary buckwheat, ScienceDirect article S2212429222003911, 2022
• Core microbiota of low-temperature daqu, PMC12473133 (cited by the round-3 accuracy audit)

Mana is a granular koji-like wheat starter, unlike ball-shaped marcha (reported, Tamang).

• Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016, names

Also called 中温大曲, 中高温大曲, nongxiang daqu, Luzhou qu.

Peak 50–60 °C. Bio-heat in the first 4 days from Candida/Wickerhamomyces and bacteria raises the brick to ~55 °C; holding bricks at 37 °C instead lowers thermotolerant Bacillus/Thermoactinomyces/Thermoascus [XIAO2017-ASM]. More flavour compounds detected (328) than HT (255) or LT (140) in one comparison (search summary).

1. Incubate25–30 days · 50–60 °C

• Xiao et al., "Bio-Heat Is a Key Environmental Driver Shaping the Microbial Community of Medium-Temperature Daqu", Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2017
• "Microbial enzymes: the bridge between Daqu flavor and microbial communities", Food Innovation and Advances 2024
• "Taorong-type Baijiu starter: fungal community of middle- and high-temperature Daqu", PLOS ONE 2022

Also called men, bánh men, men lá, men thuốc bắc.

starter for rượu nếp, rượu đế, rượu cần, cơm rượu

• Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016

starter for khaung ye (hsan khaung ye, ဆန်ခေါင်ရည်) and khaung (rice/sorghum beer)

1. Grind rice and sun-dry
2. Shape balls and coat with rice husk
3. Dry, pierce and thread on bamboo strips, and hang above the stove7 days

• Kite Tales (Myanmar), "Rice wine: from crop to cup"
• Cornell M. 2022, Traditional brewing in Myanmar: an amazing heritage (review of Corbin 2022, Heritage Drinks of Myanmar), Zythophile

starter for tapai/tape (rice, cassava), brem, tuak, arak

1. Mix rice flour and spices into dough
2. Press cakes
3. Incubate on banana leaves2–3 days
4. Dry and store

• Wikipedia, Tapai (outline only)
• Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016

Also called 神麴, 麥麴, Northern Wei divine ferment cake.

strong qu; the text says 1 dou of this qu 'kills' (ferments) about 3 dan of grain

1. Mix stiff dough and shape cakes by handone day (shaping must finish the same day)
2. Incubate sealed7 days

• Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 64 造神麴并酒

Also called fermentum.

A sour leaven made at any time of year.

1. Make two-pound barley cakes and bake on a hot hearth or in an earthen dish under ashes until reddish-brown
2. Seal in vessels until fully souruntil sour
3. Steep in water before use

• Pliny, Natural History XVIII.26, Project Gutenberg 61113

Also called fermentum (Latin), millet leaven, vintage leaven.

A year-long leaven for bread.

1. Knead millet with must at vintage timemade only at vintage
2. Keepa whole year

• Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book XVIII ch. 26, Bostock and Riley translation, Project Gutenberg ebook 61113, https://gutenberg.org/files/61113/old/61113-h/61113-h.htm

Also called fermentum, bran-must leaven.

Dried leaven cakes revived in water; Pliny calls it the best method.

1. Knead bran with three-day-old white must3 days
2. Shape small cakes and sun-dry
3. Soak cakes in water, boil with finest spelt flour, mix into the meal

• Pliny, Natural History XVIII.26, Project Gutenberg 61113

Local Bornean ragi; market starters vary widely in microbial composition (UMS study).

Made like Ragi (ragi tape, Indonesian/Malay starter cake).

• Wikipedia, Tapai (outline only)
• UMS eprints 40862 https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/40862

Also called 酒药, 白药, 小曲, 酒饼.

white or pale-yellow friable cakes with normal starter aroma

1. Harvest laliao herbearly July, before flowering; dried the same day; leaves only, sieved 50 mesh (SX-SPEC 6.1.2.2)
2. Mix rice flour, herb powder and water; pound, press, cut and round the cubes
3. Roll in powdered old jiuyao (inoculate)
4. Incubate30–35 h
5. Sun-dryat least 3 days

• Zhejiang Liquor Industry Association (drafted by Guyuelongshan and Pagoda/Tapai), group standard draft "绍兴酒（绍兴黄酒）酿造工艺技术规范" (revision of DB330624/T 09—2004), posted on ttbz.org.cn 2025-09-22
• Draft group standard T/ZS "绍兴核心产区黄酒酿造传统工艺生产技术规范" and its explanatory note, Shaoxing Yuecheng Market Supervision Bureau, 2024

Also called 麦曲, 传统麦曲, 纯种麦曲.

1. Crush each grain into 3–5 pieces
2. Mix with water
3. Form blocks and stack them in a T-shape, 2–3 layers on husk and bamboo mats
4. Warm incubation55 °C
5. Ventilate and dry

• Zhejiang Liquor Industry Association (drafted by Guyuelongshan and Pagoda/Tapai), group standard draft "绍兴酒（绍兴黄酒）酿造工艺技术规范" (revision of DB330624/T 09—2004), posted on ttbz.org.cn 2025-09-22
• Draft group standard T/ZS "绍兴核心产区黄酒酿造传统工艺生产技术规范" and its explanatory note, Shaoxing Yuecheng Market Supervision Bureau, 2024
• Tian S., Zeng W., Fang F., Zhou J., Du G., "The microbiome of Chinese rice wine (Huangjiu)", Curr. Res. Food Sci. 5:325–335, 2022

Unlike Asian mould starters, African cereal beers saccharify by malting (germinating grain), then sour with LAB and ferment with yeast carried over from the previous brew (back-slop dregs, yeast-rich sediment, or dried yeast cakes). Mould starters are rare in African brewing.

1. Steep grain12–24 h
2. Germinate3–6 days · 25–30 °C
3. Sun-dry and mill

• Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016
• Wikipedia, Tella (outline only)
• Wikipedia, Umqombothi (outline only)

Also called 種麹, もやし, koji-kin, seed koji.

dry spore powder

1. Mix wood ash into steamed rice
2. Inoculate and grow to full sporulation30–35 °C
3. Dry and sieve spores

• Wikipedia, Koji (outline only)

starter for kiad (Khasi rice beer/distillate)

1. Grind soaked glutinous rice with Amomum leaves/roots
2. Shape flat/round balls with old thiat
3. Ferment1–3 days
4. Sun-dry3–5 days

Safety: Enterobacteriaceae (Cronobacter) dominance flagged as a hygiene issue [SHA2017].

• Sha et al., "Analysis of bacterial and fungal communities in Marcha and Thiat", Sci. Rep. 2017

Also called 豆黄, soy pellicle.

medicinal powder

1. Cover steamed black beans with artemisia stalks; let pellicle form; remove, sun-dry, powder

• Shurtleff & Aoyagi. History of Specialty Fermented Soyfoods

Also called 神麴.

millet wine

1. Shape cakes
2. Incubateturn day 7, heap day 14, out day 21
3. Brew

Safety: Chickens and dogs must not see or eat the qu (ritual hygiene).

• Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 64

Also called 白麹, Kawachi koji, Aspergillus kawachii.

Albino mutant of black koji: same citric-acid protection but no black spore dust; easy to grow, saccharifies fast; lighter, cleaner shochu; now used for most shochu. White koji makes ~10x the citric acid of yellow koji (WP Sake).

Made like Black koji (kuro-koji).

• Wikipedia, Koji (outline only)
• Wikipedia, Shōchū (outline only)
• Wikipedia, Sake (outline only)

Also called 女麴, nü qu.

rice mould starter used for melon pickles, chi and pickle wine; a gloss says '女麴者，麥黃衣也' (women's qu is a wheat yellow coat), so usage was loose

1. Steam soft glutinous rice, chill, press into qu-mould cakes
2. Cover above and below with green artemisia on a bed21 days
3. Sun-dry

Safety: Spontaneous yellow moulds can include aflatoxigenic A. flavus.

• Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), ch. 88

Also called সাজপিঠা, xaj pitha, saj-pitha.

starter used at ~4 cakes per kg of steamed glutinous (bora) rice for xaj/rohi

1. Make round/oval cakes of rice flour + herbs

• "Metagenomics analysis of microbial communities associated with a traditional rice wine starter culture (Xaj-pitha) of Assam, India", 3 Biotech 2016

Also called 小曲, 酒药, 酒曲丸, 白药, jiuqu, chiu.

small dry white balls; xiaoqu is used at 0.3–0.6 % of rice weight for huangjiu (ZHWP 黄酒)

1. Mix rice flour with herb powder and water
2. Roll small balls and dust with old jiuyao powderminutes
3. Incubate in rice husk/straw box2–3 days · 28–35 °C
4. Dry, pierce and thread on bamboo strips, hang above stoveseveral days (typical)

• Wikipedia (zh), 黄酒 (outline only)
• Wikipedia, Huangjiu (outline only)
• Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016
• Rhizopus arrhizus from jiuqu https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11765298/ (search summary)

Also called yanyanku, yanyanku starter.

dried fermented Hibiscus-seed starter used as a softening and flavouring additive for néré fermentation

1. Cook seeds in ash-leachate water1 h
2. Solid-state fermentation in covered baskets36 h optimal (no significant change 36–96 h); studied to 96 h
3. Pound and sun-dryuntil dry (days)

• Agbobatinkpo PB, Azokpota P, Hounhouigan JD. Dynamique de la fermentation des graines de bissap pour la production du yanyanku et du ikpiru. Annales des Sciences Agronomiques 2019;23(2):171-182
• Zannou O, Chabi IB, Koca I. Some traditional fermented food from African locust beans (Parkia biglobosa): production and volatile compounds. GSJ 2018;6(9):673-