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Ken Fornataro de @culturesgroup nous a invité à participer à l’événement en ligne SALT & CEREMONY - une exploration du sel dans la fermentation regroupant les travaux d’une multitude de fermenteurs à travers le monde.
Dans une approche minimale et low-tech de la fermentation, nous avons eu l’idée d’explorer le pouvoir du sel dans les ferments en modulant une recette traditionnelle: le SHIO KOJI.
Le shio koji
L’expérience
Une recette de base : même poids de koji frais que d’eau.
6 versions différentes avec un taux de sel sur poids total de : 0% 1% 2% 5% 8% et 12%
Une fermentation anaérobie (bocal fermé) pendant 4 semaines.
Nous avons goûté les ferments régulièrement et noté nos impressions durant toute la fermentation. Pas d’appareillage technique, juste des appréciations sensorielles. Nous avons seulement confirmé le goût acide en mesurant le pH à partir de la deuxième semaine.
JOUR 1
JOUR 25
Les résultats
Nous avons rempli un tableau excel avec nos ressentis pour chaque pourcentage de sel à chaque dégustation.
Pour synthétiser la lecture du tableau, nous avons représenté graphiquement l’évolution de chaque sensation gustative dans le temps pour chaque ferment: salé, sucré, acide, aromatique (bons arômes et saveurs off), umami.
Ces évolutions sont décrites de façon très schématique et ne prétendent pas être précises : ce sont des ressentis parfois subjectifs.
Évolution de l'intensité des saveurs dans le temps
"shio" koji 0% sel
Version sans sel du « sel de koji » japonais - donc pas vraiment un SHIO KOJI. Ce ferment se rapproche davantage du doburoku - un genre de saké rustique élaboré à partir de koji, riz et eau.
Les saveurs développées sont très intéressantes mais peuvent être qualifiées différemment par les dégustateurs. Javier et moi les avons tantôt trouvées intéressantes ou off. Un peu comme un vin très nature qui parfois part en vrille.
En résumé : départ sucré, puis l’acidité arrive semaine 2, enfin l’alcool, le tout accompagné d’un développement aromatique.
Pour ceux d’entre vous qui ont déjà fait du doburoku, on comprend tout l’intérêt du levain préparé en phase 1 du doburoku avant d’ajouter le koji, ce qui permet d’acidifier le milieu et de cultiver les levures AVANT de mettre le koji. Ce qui garantit une fermentation « propre » sans bactéries indésirables pour élaborer la boisson alcoolisée.
shio koji 1% sel
Une évolution très similaire au 0%. La légère sensation salée disparaît assez vite.
Le résultat final est un shio koji où on ne ressent pratiquement que de l’acidité et de l’alcool.
shio koji 2% sel
C’est la version qui s’est acidifiée le plus vite.
On n’a plus la sensation d’alcool qui était présente à 0 ou 1%.
Quelques saveurs de fruits exotiques genre mamón (Javier) presque off (Laurent)
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shio koji 5% sel
shio koji 8% sel
shio koji 12% sel
Trop tôt pour que ça goûte bien. On ne sent toujours que le salé à l’exclusion d’une pointe d’umami qui promet.
Tout semble très logique puisque ce taux de sel correspond à peu près à une sauce soja qui fermente pendant plus d’un an avant d’être filtrée.
Conclusions
Cette expérience nous a permis de confirmer un ensemble d'impressions que nous avons eues tout au long de nos aventures fermentées avec le koji.
Certaines observations nous ont particulièrement marqué:
1. la frontière entre les différents types de ferments - doburoku, shio koji, sauce "soja" - est floue et le taux de sel du ferment est un élément clé. Un shio koji sans sel est presque un doburoku / un shio koji très salé se rapproche d'une sauce "soja"
2. il n'y a pas de bon ou de mauvais taux de sel : chaque échantillon a sa propre personnalité.
3. Bien qu'il soit tentant de réduire le taux de sel au maximum pour obtenir des arômes floraux et pour élargir les utilisations possibles du shio koji, on aura bien pris note que la saveur umami est plus présente dans les shio koji plus salés.
On peut choisir son taux de sel selon l'usage que l'on prévoit: un taux léger pour une sauce vinaigrette, une marinade légère pour un légume ou un mets délicat / un taux élevé pour donner de la profondeur à un plat ou mariner une viande...
Alors comme toujours en fermentation, pas de règle établie, on travaille avec des microorganismes, on ne contrôle vraiment pas tout, et le champ des possibles est infini.
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ENGLISH
We were very happy to receive an invitation from Ken Fornataro, @culturesgroup, to the on-line SALT & CEREMONY series of conferences from various fermentors across the globe exploring the role of salt in fermentation.
Given our low-tech and minimal approach to fermenting, it occurred to us that we could explore the role of salt in ferments by using it as a variant in preparing SHIO KOJI, a traditional japanese recipe. Using the same fresh koji, we prepared 6 small jars all containing the same amount of koji and water. We changed the percentage of salt in each of them.
First a definition for those of you who might need it. We’ll then move on to describe the experiment and we’ll show you some hand-drawn graphics to help explain ourselves and better illustrate our observations.
shio koji
SHIO is japanese for salt.
KOJI, our best friend when it comes to fermentation, is rice upon which we grow a mold called aspergillus oryzae.
SHIO KOJI is "salt koji" in its liquid form : water, koji and salt.
SHIO KOJI is a japanese condiment we use daily in our kitchen from the day we came upon it. The words "wonder" and "magic" are paradoxically very descriptive of this mixture and say much of the simplicity of using koji in the kitchen. It is a ferment that will significantly alter your cooking. Koji is potent.
If you are an amateur-ice, KOJI is a concentration of enzymes produced by the Aspergillus oryzae mold. Imagine the enzymes as scissors, many of them, that will actively cut and recut complex food — proteins, starch, fat — in order to break them down and develop new, plain and very delicious ones: Sugar, aromas, umami flavours.
In short, SHIO KOJI is a salted liquid full of flavours used in cooking for its own flavour but more importantly to bring the best flavours out of the ingredients, vegetables or meat you use it upon.
We use it to marinate meats or vegetables, to make salad sauces for cabbage. It’s alive and kicking, so bear in mind that it will cook your food while marinating. We make our ceviche with it, for example.
The experiment
- A simple recipe: we used the same amount/weight of koji and water.
- 6 jars with different salt/weight ratios: 0%, 1%, 2%, 5%, 8%, and 12%.
- Anaerobic fermentation (closed jar) for 4 weeks.
We tasted the different ferments on a regular basis and wrote down our impressions during the four weeks. Everything is based on our senses -- taste, smell, eyes. We used no technical instrument whatsoever except to measure the pH as of week two in order to confirm the acid taste in the ferments.
DAY 1
The six jars ready to go.
DAY 25
25 days later, we can see the change in colour. It turned increasingly darker from left to right in relation to the added salt, from white to yellow, from 0% to 12%.
Observations
We kept a journal with our impressions for each time we tasted the different jars. We tasted them all every time.
In order to summarize what is written in our journal, we drew graphics illustrating how taste and smell evolved in each ferment according to the tastings: salty, sweet, acidic, aromatic (good ones and off tastes), umami.
We described the so called evolution in time in a schematic way. We do not mean to be precise in these descriptions. The subjective element, as given by our senses, is significant.
Intensity of flavours vs time
"shio" koji 0% salt
This is a version without salt of the japanese "Koji salt", so it's not an actual shio koji. This particular ferment turned out to be more like a doburoku, a type of rustic sake made from koji, rice and water.
The flavours that come out of it are intriguing and will definitely be described differently by tasters. We, javier and laurent, differ on one point: is the flavour really off? It's rather like one of those natural wines on the farm side, gone wild.
In short, sweet at the beginning; acidity settled in week 2; it then became alcoholic; aromas developing throughout.
Those of you who make doburoku will understand the need for the leaven in phase 1, when preparing it, and why the koji is added in phase 2. Not only does this process creates the right acidic environment to grow yeast before adding koji, it is also a way to create a perfectly clean environment for fermentation to take place -- no undesirable bacteria -- and give way to the alcoholic beverage.
shio koji 1% salt
Very similar to the 0% jar, the salty bit actually goes away pretty quickly. At the end, it's a shio koji primarily acid and alcoholic.
shio koji 2%
This jar actually turned acid the fastest. The alcoholic aspect in the first two jars -- 0% and 1% -- is not present in this one. There's a delicious flavour to mamón, a tropical fruit in Nicaragua -- a madeleine de proust for javier climbing the gigantic tree as a kid and devouring the fruit sitting, hugging the branch with both legs. Rather off as flavour for Laurent.
shio koji 5%
Thrilled to confirm that our usual mix at 5% is very balanced. The salinity fades over time and is counterbalanced by a nice, rather sweet acidity and beautiful, delicate aromas.
An umami note began to peek through at the end of the third week.
shio koji 8%
It took three weeks to take off and even then, we only got a salty sensation when tasting. The fourth week, on the other hand, we got a not very shy umami side to it. Beautiful surprise. We feel like using it as soup stock, a vegan luxurious version of such a stock, isn't it? Umami so pure it will give depth to and put any food on a higher level.
shio koji 12%
It's still too early to taste anything but the salt and a very shy umami side peeking in. The latter makes us believe in this jar's potential for a great ferment. After all, this much salt is quite similar to the ratio we use to make soy sauce, which takes over a year to ferment before filtering it.
CONCLUSION
What this experiment has done, more than anything, is confirm the line of thought we've been on since we started fermenting koji and with koji.
Three things are particularly remarkable.
1. Differences among ferments of similar components such as doburoku, shio koji and soy sauce are not all that clear. An unsalted shio koji is similar to doburoku and a very salted shio koji will be more like a "soy" sauce.
2. There's no good or bad salt ratio. Each jar can be used in the kitchen for different purposes.
3. Even though we might be tempted to keep the salt ratio low for a more flexible use but also in order to get the beautiful flower-like and fruit aromas, it is undeniable that the more salt we add, the bigger umami flavours become.
We can choose the salt ratio we want according to what we want to do with the ferment. Less salt for salad sauces, for example, or a light marinade for veggies or delicate foods. We can add more salt to marinate meat or give depth to a particular dish.
As usual, in fermentation, we are not making any rules here. We work with microorganisms. It is impossible to control everything especially in our low-tech approach. This means that the outcome, the possibilities are infinite.
Just keep up the umamitude!