Dawdim
Dawdim is a dried rice-beer starter cake from Mizoram. Laboratories have listed its yeasts and moulds; no source gives how it is made, kept or used safely.
Ingredients
1086 articles on substrates, cultures and additives.
Fruit, vegetables and seaweedsFruit, vegetables, roots, alliums, seaweeds and algae.
Grains, legumes and nutsGrains, flours, malts, starches, beans, pulses, nuts, seeds and the coffee, cocoa and tea crops.
Mushrooms and fungiCultivated and wild mushrooms, truffles and other edible fungi, and lichens.
Meat and fishMeat, offal, fat, casings, fish, shellfish and insects.
Dairy and eggsMilk by animal, cream, butter, milk powders, rennets, dairy additives and eggs.
Cultures and startersYeasts, bacteria, moulds, koji, SCOBYs, grains and kept starters that begin a ferment.
Salt and mineralsCooking, named and curing salts, brines, alkalis and mineral additives.
Sugars and sweetenersRefined and unrefined sugars, honeys, syrups, molasses and malt sugars.
Herbs and spicesHerbs, seed and bark spices, peppercorns, chillies, aromatic roots, brewing botanicals and resins.
Oils, sauces and drinksPlant oils, condiments, vinegars, waters and the wines, beers and pickles other recipes use.
Additives and aidsFood acids, sulphites, preservatives, enzymes, leaveners, gelling agents, brewing additives and wrapping leaves.
All cultures103
Koji and amylolytic starters33
Yeasts19
Dairy starter cultures15
Ripening moulds and yeasts11
Meat starter cultures8
SCOBYs and grain cultures6
Back-slopped and retained starters5
Leavens and sourdough starters3
Lactic cultures2Legume mould starters1
Koji and amylolytic starters33Yeasts19Dairy starter cultures15Ripening moulds and yeasts11Meat starter cultures8SCOBYs and grain cultures6Back-slopped and retained starters5Leavens and sourdough starters3Lactic cultures2Legume mould starters1Koji and amylolytic starters
Pee
Pee is a sun-dried rice starter from Arunachal Pradesh, India, made like other Eastern Himalayan dry starters. Its recorded bacterial population was high, and its named beverages are opo and apong.
Paa
Paa is a sun-dried rice starter from Arunachal Pradesh, India, made from soaked rice flour and wild herbs. Families use it as the culture for mildly alcoholic rice drinks.
Rhizopus (amylolytic mould in parakari)
A Rhizopus mould stage converts starch in cassava for the Wapishana drink parakari. The published abstracts name the mould and its role but not the full culture method.
White-koji starter for shōchū
A seed culture of a white-spored Aspergillus koji mould, used to make the koji that starts Japanese shōchū mash, and named in the literature as Aspergillus luchuensis mut. kawachii.
Gutian hongqu
A regional form of hongqu, the red rice starter of southeastern China, named for Gutian and distinguished in Fujian studies from Wuyi hongqu. Documented only through modern regional comparisons.
Low-temperature daqu
A shaped grain starter (daqu) from Chinese baijiu production, classed as low-temperature because its bricks reach the lowest peak temperatures of the three daqu types; used mainly for light-flavor baijiu.
Medium-temperature daqu
A formed grain starter (daqu) for Chinese baijiu, classed as medium-temperature because its bricks reach a higher peak than low-temperature daqu; used mainly for strong-flavor baijiu.
Phab
Bhutanese Phab, called Pho in a 2018 study, is a Drukpa starter associated with Ara. Bhutan sample studies document it separately from Ladakhi phabs; matching names elsewhere do not establish one culture.
Khekhrii
Khekhrii is a dried starter reported from Nagaland, made from naturally fermented sprouted rice and used for zutho. A 2018 study sampled five Khekhrii preparations but does not define every producer's practice.
Phut
Phut is a dry rice starter cake made by the Monpa (Mongpa) community of Arunachal Pradesh, India, and used to start rice beverage fermentations. Published sources describe its making only in outline.
Rhizopus microsporus
Rhizopus microsporus is a fast-growing mould of the Rhizopus group, found in fresh Indonesian tempeh, where it is the species that most tempeh strains belong to.
Aspergillus luchuensis
Aspergillus luchuensis is the black koji mould used in Japanese shochu and awamori, valued for the citric acid it makes alongside the starch-converting enzymes of koji.
Aspergillus sojae
Aspergillus sojae is a koji mould of the Aspergillus flavus group, closely related to A. oryzae, used as a starter in soybean fermentations such as Korean meju, doenjang and ganjang.
Xiaoqu (small-form Chinese starter)
Xiaoqu (小曲) is a family of small Chinese grain starters for rice wines and baijiu: mixed moulds, yeasts and bacteria that convert starch and ferment it, not one strain or formula.
Bubod (Philippine starter)
Bubod is the Philippine rice starter behind Cordillera tapuy and tapey: dry mixed-culture cakes of molds, yeasts and bacteria, plus a standardized granular version developed by DOST.
Ragi tapé
Ragi tapé, also ragi tapai, is a dried mixed starter cake from Indonesia and Malay traditions, used to ferment sweet rice, cassava and related starchy foods.
Ipguk
Ipguk (입국) is Korean steamed rice grown with a selected koji mould, used as an enzyme-rich starter in makgeolli and yakju. It is not the same product as traditional nuruk.
Wuyi hongqu
Wuyi hongqu is a regional red rice starter from the Wuyi area of Fujian, described as a mixed Monascus and Aspergillus culture used in rice wine and, in one report, cereal vinegar.
Dombae
Dombae (dombea, medombae) is a Cambodian dried mixed starter for rice fermentation; studied samples differ, so the names do not specify one formula.
Men / banh men (Vietnamese starter)
Men or bánh men is a mixed Vietnamese starch-based rice fermentation starter. Published samples vary; their isolates and performance do not define a standard culture or household formula.
Loog-pang / luk paeng (Thai starter)
Loog-pang (luk paeng/look-pang) is a Thai mixed starter used with rice in distinct foods and drinks, including sato and khao mak. Studies describe different samples and one reported cake-making account, not a universal formula.
Korean nuruk
Korean nuruk is a grain-based starter used to ferment traditional Korean alcoholic drinks. Its microbial communities vary among samples, so the name does not specify one organism or standardized culture.
Maiqu
Maiqu (麦曲, wheat qu) is a wheat-based enzyme starter used in Chinese huangjiu such as Shaoxing wine; it is a starter category, not one defined strain.
Chowan
Chowan is a dried cereal starter associated with Tripura. Published accounts differ on its local names, and microbial findings come from sampled cakes; no single origin, method or culture is established.
Thiat
Thiat is a dried mixed starter used for alcoholic beverages in Meghalaya. Field accounts differ and laboratory studies describe particular samples; none gives a universal recipe or validated household method.
Fuqu
Fuqu (鹸曲, bran qu) is a bran-based starter format used in Chinese liquor production; it is a production format, not one fixed species or formula.
High-temperature daqu
High-temperature daqu is a formed, mixed-community grain starter used for sauce-aroma (Maotai-flavor) baijiu, made by a separate heat-driven process and sold or kept as dry bricks.
Humao
Humao is a sun-dried cereal starter of the Dimasa in Assam, used for Judima rice beer. Accounts of its making are single-household reports and microbial studies describe single sample sets, not a standard.
Hamei
Hamei is a Manipur rice-cake starter used for Atingba. Accounts of how the cakes are made differ, and microbial studies describe particular samples; none defines a universal formula or safety standard.
White-rice-flour nuruk
A shaped, inoculated white-rice-flour starter prepared by Han and colleagues for a 2021 yakju comparison; the commercial baekguk strain was not identified.
Seed koji
Tane-koji is the mold inoculum Sakimoto plants on steamed rice to make rice koji for Yonaguni awamori; its exact strain and supplier are unpublished.
Yellow-koji starter
Yellow-koji starter is the spore inoculum of the yellow koji mold — Aspergillus oryzae and the related A. sojae — sold by specialist tane-kōji houses to grow koji for sake, miso and soy sauce.