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Yellow-pea koji garum

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Yellow-pea koji garum is a dark liquid seasoning made by holding cooked split peas with rice koji, salt and water while the koji enzymes break down the mash.

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Illustrative still life of yellow-pea koji garum as a dark liquid seasoning, with peas and rice koji as ingredient context; exact batch appearance is not documented.

What the sauce is

Yellow-pea koji garum is a dark, salty liquid seasoning made from yellow split peas. Cooked peas are blended with rice koji, salt and water into a pourable mash, which is held warm so that the koji enzymes can break down its proteins and starches. The liquid is strained off and used by the spoonful, as a seasoning, in the way fish sauce is used.

The name places it in the garum family, the fermented fish sauces of the ancient Mediterranean. Its plant substrate is what separates it from those sauces, and the source describes it as a modern adaptation rather than a documented historical preparation.

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What the koji does

Koji is rice grown with the mould Aspergillus oryzae. In this recipe the koji is used for its enzymes, not for any growth of its own, and the mash is not an acid ferment. The enzymes that matter here are proteases, which cut pea protein into smaller peptides and amino acids, and amylases, which break down starch into sugars. These are general biochemical roles, not measurements from this recipe.

The amino acids and sugars released in the mash are part of what gives the finished sauce its savoury depth. The source records the process as enzymatic and warns that its holding temperature has not been validated as a safety control.

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Holding time and temperature

The quick-garum method holds the slurry at 55–60°C for two to six weeks, stirring or massaging it every couple of days, until the solids break down. The jar is strained through cloth afterwards, and the liquid is refrigerated or frozen.

A 2017 Nordic Food Lab study, which the Mouritsen et al. paper reports as a garum revisited, documented a barley-koji yellow-pea sauce held at a lower temperature for much longer. This rice-koji version is a separate, faster warm method, and the sources give no evidence that the two can be exchanged. The 2017 paper is cited here from its listing; its full text was not read for this revision.

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Keeping and safety

The finished liquid is perishable. The method says it must not be canned, and that it should be refrigerated at 2–4°C or frozen after straining. The warm hold itself is not validated as a control against botulism, because the mash is low in acid and is held at a temperature the sources do not test for safety.

The page does not give a shelf life for the strained liquid. Smell, taste and appearance do not show whether it is safe, and a cook who cannot control the hold should use a method with a validated process.

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History

Garum was historically a fish sauce. Modern cooks have extended the idea to plant proteins, using koji enzymes to turn a salted mash into a savoury liquid. A 2017 Nordic Food Lab study documented a barley-koji yellow-pea sauce held at a lower temperature for much longer. This rice-koji version is a separate, faster warm method. Its finished liquid is used as a concentrated seasoning rather than as a drink or a preserved whole food.

Ingredients

Scaling: source batch only

Method

Risks and precautions · High risk
Low-acid warm-held mash

The finished sauce is not an acid ferment, and the warm enzymatic process has not been validated as a botulism control.

Hazard source

Do not can the sauce; refrigerate at 2–4°C or freeze after straining.

Control source

This low-acid sauce is perishable. The warm hold has not been validated as a botulism control; do not can the sauce, and refrigerate or freeze it after straining.

  1. Cook the yellow split peas until soft. Weigh 400 g of the cooked peas for the mash.
  2. Weigh 250 g rice koji, 250 g water and 100 g salt. Blend them with the peas into a pourable slurry.
  3. Transfer the slurry to a jar with a loose lid or a vacuum bag. Hold it steadily at 55–60°C.
  4. Stir the jar or massage the bag every couple of days. Continue the warm hold for 2–6 weeks as the solids break down.
  5. Strain the liquid through cloth. Refrigerate it at 2–4°C or freeze it.

Conditions

Fermentation14–42 days
Temperature55–60°C
Temperature controlIncubated

Maturation

No humidity limit is supplied by source.

Places

Unknown

Modern adaptation · Place not established

The quick-garum page gives this yellow-pea adaptation without a geographic origin.

Location source 1 →

Related

Made from

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