Reply To: Doenjang

I get frustrated when I try to use forums to answer my questions, and no one ever responds. So I will try my best to help. According to Maangchi, and I recommend watching some other videos; pink, yellow, greenish, are all okay fungus. White is ideal. As long as it continues to get that crackly dry look with your fungus you’re doing good. What you don’t want is black with a slimy, not drying, rotting look. It’s all about what’s in your air. Where you live and your drying/climate conditions matter. I live in a high, thin, dry air climate in the country, so it was good I started drying my meju in spring so our rains helped with humidity and we still have cool weather (I’ve read some people have problems with no fungus growing at all because of lack of humidity). The heat source I ended up getting was a heating pad for pets and is perfect. It doesn’t get too hot and I used kind of a combo of tin foil and a kitchen towel instead of wax paper to help with controlling heat. Rotating your meju like Maangchi suggests is important too. Eventually it will dry enough to hang. When I hung my meju I did it in my kitchen corner which ended up being really smart to do because cooking in the kitchen kept some humidity in the air and I have a ceiling fan for ventilation. If I didn’t have the fan I probably would have got a desk fan to blow towards them (helps with smell and bugs too) Other Korean videos have shown some meju hanging with a small wrapped bundle of straw, or what hangs the meju is made of straw. That’s something to try, if you can, to help make sure the correct bacteria is in the air for good fungus growth. I have horses and live in the country so my air is already full of what my meju needs and I’ve had really nice white fungal growth. I love trying to figure out the science behind doenjang. I think the green, yellow, or pink people mention is all about the balance of humidity, heat, and what bacteria is in the air when drying your meju. I got lucky for my first time and started with a good balance before I understood what to look for. I’ve read and seen a lot of meju not turn out or worry people because you have to do a little bit of science homework to understand what your meju is going to do, and even then you worry about it because they do become your babies.;)

My question that I would love answered is: how do I know when my meju is ready for the brine? I’m at week 7 and according to Maangchi’s recipe, is in the hay box. However, my meju is so dry I can see through from one side to the other. I should still have another month or so to dry, but like I said earlier, I think my high elevation has dried them faster than places like Korea or New York that are at sea level. Hmmmmm So until someone hopefully has an answer for me I’ll have them in the box with hay for the 2 weeks, and if they are exactly the same as before they went in then I guess it will mean they’re done and ready for brine.