fungi and soy sauce

[mslynnlynn]

i want to know the role of fungi (aspergillus oryzae and aspergillus sojae) in the production of soy sauce?
NOBODY knows aspergillus sojae?

[victor]

I only know Aspergillus oryzae and never heard of A.sojae...

[mothorc]

there 're two genus for two kind of products.
they make the pH lower to get casein, and develope special smell

[eluned]

In 1944 Kinichiro Sakaguchi and Koichi Yamada discovered a new species of Aspergillus mold, which appeared widely in shoyu koji; they named it Aspergillus sojae.
http://www.thesoydailyclub.com/SFC/Fsoyfoods425.asp

Kikoman has a patented strain that is used for some of their soy sauce production.

Aspergillus oryzae is a general saprobe, feeding off of dead plant debris. It is found all over the world in numerous and diverse habitats. Aspergillus sojae is usually found around koji fermentation sites. It is also interesting to note that A. sojae is very closely related to the Aspirgillus that produce aflatoxin. Check pub med for more gory details.