Reply To: Gochujang and doenjang for muslims

I am pretty sure any alcohol in gochujang or doenjang is negligible/insignificant and lost as soon as warmed or used in cooking a dish with the pastes. There are two kinds of fermentation; one that uses bacteria to ferment, like kimchi, that does not produce alcohol. And there is one that uses yeast to ferment, like beer. Yeast fermentation has two bi-products — CO2 (carbon dioxide) and alcohol.

Unless gochujang and doenjang are fermented with the addition of yeast specifically for the purpose of fermentation, the only yeast available to create alcohol will be insignificant wild yeast that is always present on the soybeans or peppers.

Btw, bread dough produces quite a bit of alcohol when it ferments or proofs. All of the alcohol is lost during the baking of the bread.