Gochujang

Gochujang is made using chili powder, glutinous rice powder, soy porridge with salt, flavorings, for instance, shallots and garlic, as well as sweetener in the form of sugar syrup, and the mixture fermented for a long time.

The process of manufacture is: glutinous rice (22.2%) soaked in water for 24 hours and ground after removing the water. Malt (5%) is soaked in water for 6 h and filtered after heating. A mixture of
glutinous rice and malt is cooked for 30 min and then cooled. This cooked mixture is heated to 50ºC to induce saccharification. Meju powder (5.5%), red pepper powder (25.0%), and salt (12.8%) are added to the mixture, and it is fermented for 1-2 years (Shin, 1995; Ko, 2006).

The fermenting microorganisms are a mixture of yeast and bacteria including  Zygosaccharomyces and Candida, Bacillus velezencis as well as Oceanobacillus (Jang et al., 2011).

The glutinous rice powder and soybean porridge provide the protein and carbohydrate as substrate for metabolism.

Reference

Jang, S.J., Kim, Y.J., Park, J.M., Park, Y.S. (2011) Analysis of microflora in gochujang, Korean traditional fermented food. Food Sci Biotechnol. 20 pp. 1435–40

Shin, D.H. (1995) Survey on preparation method of traditional home made gochujang (fermented hot pepper-soybean paste). Korean J. Diet. Culture 10: pp. 427-434