Hello fellow fermenters, a year ago I started to make miso, I planned to let it ferment for a year so today I went to check on it. However I noticed something that I think looks like mold. But I would like a second opinion before I toss it in the trash. The miso has been fermenting in a glas jar with an airlock, that I forgot about and didn’t refill with water. On top of the miso I also placed a plastic bag filled with salt.
After I posted I also noticed these white “strings” further down in the miso. Still good or is straight to the trash?
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It looks like you have some air pockets in your mass. The aspergillus will keep making white filaments where ever there is a surface with a little oxygen present. If it is anything other, it will not survive competition with the aspergillus in the environment created by the miso so it will not survive mixing it in. There are few fungii capable of making you sick whilst also able to grow in the miso, and even then it’s usually because of mycotoxins produced as a side product from the metbolic processes. This means they would have to be present in a very large amount, which inevitably makes the whole thing very easy to detect by smell and taste. Mix it in, and once the ferment is supposed to be completed, if it smells and tastes off, throw it out. But, I think more often than not you’ll end up fine.
Side note, it’s only since recent times people started fermenting in glass jars where everything is visible. Traditionally smell and taste were the only markers people used. Trust your senses!
Happy fermenting!