Fermented Umami with Barley Koji and Meat Soy Sauce
Sep 08,2022
Sep 08,2022
Sausages, hams, and bacon developed in Germany and other European countries are much loved in Japan. At Kreutzer, a ham and sausage specialty store in Machida, Tokyo, each product is handmade using authentic German methods and recipes.
Kreutzer’s owner, Yoshioka Manabu, first trained his attention on Japanese fermentation techniques. By fermenting pork with barley koji malt to make pork garum seasoning, he came up with additive-free fermented sausages and bacon, a rarity anywhere in the world. We spoke with him about his inspiration to develop these products and the long road to their completion, as well as the new tastes created by combining traditional German production methods with Japan’s age-old fermentation techniques.
Kreutzer always has some 40 to 50 varieties of hams, sausages, bacon, and other meat products, handmade with fresh ingredients, on display in its showcase.
Since childhood, Yoshioka, the owner, has been interested in the world of microorganisms and fermentation. This led him to study food production and processing and fermentation science at the Tokyo University of Agriculture’s Department of Fermentation (now the Department of Fermentation Sciences under the Faculty of Applied Biosciences). As a university student, he was an avid mountain climber. During an expedition to the Alps in Europe, he was able to learn about the local food culture and was particularly impressed by the taste and texture of weisswurst, a traditional German white sausage. Despite his fascination with sausage-making, he joined a foreign-affiliated pharmaceutical firm after graduation. Yoshioka’s turning point came when he had been at the firm for over 15 years.
The store always has 40 to 50 different products on display
“I randomly picked up a magazine on a bullet train as I headed out on a business trip. In the magazine, I read an article in which the previous owner of Kreutzer explained that he had no successor to take over the business. As it happened, I had just been in Germany for a close friend’s wedding, where I had renewed my appreciation for the deliciousness of German sausages. So I contacted the previous owner and we hit it off. After a period of training and co-management, I took over the store in 2010.”
One day a few years later, Yoshioka went to a food machinery trade show and by chance met an old classmate from university. That classmate was Yoshida Tsutomu, president of Kenko Shokuhin Kogyo, a Miyazaki-based producer of soy sauces and miso.
“As we were catching up, we started talking about whether the koji used in making miso and soy sauces would go well with meat. We decided to give it a go, and Yoshida sent me various types of koji from his company. From there, I started experimenting with different combinations of meat and koji.”
The store is currently run by Yoshioka and his wife
Fermentation is an ancient form of Japanese food wisdom. It is rather rare, however, to hear about fermentation being combined with meat. Yoshioka suspects the reason is due to Japan’s history of banning the consumption of meat under Buddhist edicts. “The history of pork and beef in this country is not that long, as the widespread consumption of these meats really only began after the Meiji Restoration [1868]. My idea was to incorporate fermentation techniques into the production process and try to create processed meat products uniquely Japanese.”
Pork garum wurst with shichimi spices and sansho peppercorns is a truly Japanese sausage
Making this a reality was, for Yoshioka, a continuous struggle of trial and error.
“My first attempts included using koji with aged beef and trying to make something similar to nare-zushi [sushi fermented in brine] by mixing pork and rice koji. But none of them turned out very well. I eventually found inspiration in shishibi shio, a type of salted and fermented meat that was made up until around the Heian period (794 to 1185). With that as my blueprint, I decided to try making a pork garum seasoning with pork and koji.
“At the same time, we were working on a joint research project with the Tokyo Metropolitan Food Technology Center (now the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute’s Food Technology Center), aiming to develop products using pork farmed under the brand name Tokyo X. As part of this project, in partnership with Kenko Shokuhin Kogyo, we set out to make pork garum for sausages and tried experiment after experiment using rice, soybean, wheat, and other kinds of koji.”
From these tests, Yoshioka found that the best match for pork was barley koji. Because barley koji has highly activated protease, an enzyme that breaks down proteins, it significantly boosts the umami of pork. The pork garum that was created from all this work was used to season pork, resulting in Kreutzer’s pork garum wurst.
The pork garum wurst has earned accolades both domestically and internationally, including winning a gold medal at the 2020 DLG (German Agricultural Society) food product quality competition.
After successfully developing pork garum wurst, Yoshioka set a new challenge for himself: create sausages and bacon in which the pork itself is fermented. From his previous experience, he knew that barley koji was a good match for pork. However, he sensed that further ingenuity would be needed to ferment the meat itself.
“Barley koji by itself does not blend in easily with the meat. So I crushed it up into fine bits before I used it. There were many other factors to consider, such as the salt concentration and how long to marinate the meat. It was another long process of trial and error.
“Eventually, we produced additive-free fermented sausages and bacon. For the sausages, we knead the barley koji into the pork before fermenting. For the bacon, we cover the pork with barley koji and let it rest before salting and smoking it. It took about seven or eight years from the time we discovered the right combination of meat and koji until we had developed a commercial product.”
One of the store’s most popular items, shown here, is the Camembert salami, which is fermented with white mold
Fermenting pork with barley koji increases the umami components and breaks down the enzymes in the meat, making it tender and easy to eat. And the distinctive aroma of barley koji produces a mouth-watering piquant smell and rich flavor.
The additive-free fermented sausages and bacon do not use coloring agents, binding agents, chemical seasonings, or other food additives. When sausages are normally made without additives, they tend to have a strong porky smell and a bland, crumbly texture. According to Yoshioka, however, the use of barley koji coincidentally solves these additive-free shortcomings.
“The barley koji’s aroma eliminates the strong meat smell, and the fermentation process improves the meat’s binding performance while making the texture smooth and moist. I would have never discovered this without actually trying it out. The interesting thing about fermentation, unlike spices and seasonings, is the unpredictable results, both good and bad. Again, the development took a long time, but we were able to produce sausages and bacon that are safe and delicious for everyone, from kids to grandparents.”
Kreutzer also produces meat-free hams and sausages made from 100-percent tofu dough. The store’s homemade mustards are also popular, such as the traditional German whole-grain mustard and more original items like wasabi mustard.
“We want to continue coming up with new tastes by adding distinctly Japanese takes to the traditional German methods we have mastered. Although we use barley koji in our additive-free fermented sausages and bacon, as our research continues, we may find an even better type of koji suited for pork. I hope our products will help expand the possibilities of meat and fermentation.”
Yoshioka is the owner of Kreutzer, a store specializing in handmade hams and sausages. His passion for mountain climbing and skiing as a university student led him to the Alps in Europe, where he became acquainted with the local food culture. He was particularly struck by the taste and texture of weisswurst, a traditional German white sausage, and began to dream of opening a European-style sausage store in Japan. After working for a pharmaceutical firm, Yoshioka took over Kreutzer as the second-generation owner in 2010, and continues to make hams and sausages while sticking to traditional German methods.
Official Kreutzer online store