"In its natural state, koji smells floral, yeasty and citrusy, and it was this intoxicating bouquet that inspired Jeremy Umansky, master larder and forarger at chef Jonathon Sawyer's Italian restaurant, Trentina, to experiment with the mold. When he was researching house-made chickpea miso, Umansky found that koji's sweet scent reminded him of a fresh scallop. After discovering he could grow koji not just on rice but also on rice flour, the chef coated scallops in rice flour, spread the spores directly onto the flour and left them in a dehydrator. Thirty-six hours later, out came fungus-coated scallops that were neither spoiled nor rank, but instead perfectly cured with firm flesh that smelled of sweet citrus and brine.
From his successful experiment with scallops, Umansky has gone on to use koji to cure heartier proteins, such as beef, lamb, chicken, pork and even llama. With koji, he is also able to make traditional charcuterie in days instead of weeks, using no salt at all. He's gotten so into the Japanese mold that later this fall he'll be opening Larder, a European-style delicatessen in Cleveland where every product from bread to pastrami has been, in his words, "kissed by koji."
https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/national/koji-david-chang
From his successful experiment with scallops, Umansky has gone on to use koji to cure heartier proteins, such as beef, lamb, chicken, pork and even llama. With koji, he is also able to make traditional charcuterie in days instead of weeks, using no salt at all. He's gotten so into the Japanese mold that later this fall he'll be opening Larder, a European-style delicatessen in Cleveland where every product from bread to pastrami has been, in his words, "kissed by koji."
https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/national/koji-david-chang