• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 1993

The Kinds of soy sauce were prepared using the brick type of conventional meju(A), the brick type of meju of Aspergillus oryzae(B), and the grain type of meju of Aspergillus oryzae(C). Free sugar and alcohol were analyzed in accordance to aging time of those products. Galactose, glucose, arabinose, xylose, and mannose were detected in all kinds of soy sauce. In soy sauce 4 galactose, glucose, arabinose, and xylose were shown in the order of content. The content of galactose in soy sauce A and soy sauce C were shown higher than that in soy sauce B alt during the time. The content of glucose was highest among that of all kinds of free sugars at the beginning of preparation, but the content of glucose was lower than that of arabinose and xylose after 60 days. The contents order of total free sugar was soy sauce C > soy sauce B > soy sauce A. The content of ethyl alcohol was shown 6.23∼19.10mg%, and that of isobutyl alcohol was 8.70∼ 169.03 ppm in all soy sauces, but those of soy sauce C was higher than those of other soy sauces.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.924-933
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• 1998

Kochujang, fermented hot pepper-soybean paste, was prepared by two common varieties of red pepper and natural fermented (NF) or pure cultured (PC) meju (soybean mass that is soaked, steamed, mashed and fermented by natural microflora or pure strain) and monitored their taste related component, enzyme activity and microflora during fermentation at $25^{\circ}C$ for 120 days for confirming possibility of kochujang fermentation control. The reducing sugars, amino type nitrogen (reference quality factor) and amino acid content in PC kochujang were 11.4%, 0.58% and 1,372.9 mg% respectively, 7.1%, 0.42% and 1,038.7 mg% in NF kochujang. It is concerned higher ${\alpha}-{\;}and{\;}{\beta}-{\;}amylase$ and, acid and neutral protease in PC kochujang during fermentation. The meju fermented by selected pure strain (A. oryzae CBU) can be applied to produced better quality of kochujang instead of natural meju.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.408-419
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• 2022

Filamentous fungi that could be classified into Aspergillus flavus/oryzae were isolated from traditionally fermented meju commercially available in Korea. The samples were analyzed for aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A contamination by HPLC; however, no toxin was detected. In addition, fungal and bacterial metagenomic sequencing were performed to analyze the microbial distribution in the samples. The results revealed that the distribution and abundance of fungi and bacteria differed considerably depending on the production regions and fermentation conditions of the meju samples. Through morphological analysis, ITS region sequencing, and assessment of the aflatoxin-producing ability, a total of 32 A. flavus/oryzae strains were identified. PCR analysis of six regions with a high mutation frequency in the aflatoxin gene cluster (AGC) revealed a total of six types of AGC breaking point patterns. The A. flavus/oryzae strains did not exhibit the high amylase activity detected in the commercial yellow koji strain (starter mold). However, their peptidase and lipase activities were generally higher than that of the koji isolates. We verified the safety of the traditionally fermented meju samples by analyzing the AGC breaking point pattern and the enzyme activities of A. flavus/oryzae strains isolated from the samples. The isolated strains could possibly be used as starter molds for soybean fermentation.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.315-320
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• 2002

In order to improve some problems such as contamination of undesirable mold, mycotoxin production and excessive drying on the surface of traditional meju. Control meju without koji and capsule type meju(CM) coated with soybean mixture containing 0.5%, 1% and 2%(w/w) R. oligosporus koji were dried at room temperature (10∼15$^{\circ}C$) for 3 days. Control meju I was fermented in outdoor for 27 days. Control meju IIand CMs were fermented in Korean yellow clay room at 25$^{\circ}C$ for 7 days under 80% relative humidity as first step, and then fermented in outdoor (average temp. 2.7$^{\circ}C$, December) for 20 days as second step. The moisture content of CMs were higher than that of control meju I to the range of 2.88∼7.55%(w/w). pH and titratable acidity in CMs were similar to control group. Amino type nitrogen content in CMs(800.80, 816.0, 901.60 mg%) were 2.2∼2.6 times higher than that in control meju I (347.2 mg%). Reducing sugar content in CMs(2.78∼3.13%) was similar to control meiu I (2.10%) and control meju H(2.31%). Lightness(L) value of control meju I was higher than that of control meju IIand CMs.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.887-893
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• 1999

This study was conducted to investigate flavor components of sigumjang meju and barley bran. Among 52 kinds of flavor components identified in barley bran, the content of hexanal was the most followed by butanoic acid, 2-pentylfuran and hexanoic acid. Among 66 kinds of flavor components identified in 12 sigumjang mejus, the contents of 2-furancarboxaldehyde, 1-(3-methoxyphenyl)-ethanone and tetramethylpyrazine were more than those of any other components. Twenty two kinds of flavor components were detected in both barley bran and sigumjang meju. The contents of butanoic acid, hexanal and 2-pentylfuran were higher in barley bran than sigumjang meju. The contents of 2-furancarboxaldehyde, 1-(3-methoxyphenyl)-ethanone and tetramethylpyrazine were higher in sigumjang meju than barley bran. Thirty kinds of volatile components were detected only in barley bran and 44 kinds were detected only in sigumjang meju.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.427-434
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• 1995

The preparation method for traditional kochujang (fermented hot pepper-soybean paste) at home were surveyed by 1,436 housewives through the country by premade questionnaires. The kochujang meju (Korean style soybean Koji for kochujang) were made by solely soybean (45.3% of respondents) or soybean with rice (26.3%) from September to November (52.2%) or December to February (32.7%). The shape of meju was either doughnut (28.4%) or brick (25.6%) type. Kochujang making seasons were either from March to May (56.6%) or December to February (25.0%) and it was prepared in proportion of mostly $6{\sim}10%$ meju powder (32%) with over 20% of red pepper powder (57.2%) prepared by seed removed dry red pepper. Subsidiary ingredients for kochujang making were boiled waxy rice (73.5%), malt (33.3%), corn syrup (18.9%) or corn syrup with malt (21.9%). After mixing all ingredients, kochujang in clay pot were occasionally exposed to the sun for fermentation for $3{\sim}4$ months (35.0%) or $1{\sim}2$ months (34.7%).

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2003

In order to improve some problems such as contamination of undesirable mold, mycotoxin production and excessive drying on the surface of traditional meju, we developed a capsule type-meju(CM) coated with steamed black bean and Aspergillus oryzae - rice koji(0.3％, w/w) mixture to surface of traditional meju and fermented at 25$^{\circ}C$ for 14 days under 80％ relative humidity. Contamination of undesirable mold on the surface of CM was not detected within 2 weeks and some genus Penicillium molds on control meju without koji were found naturally after 12 days of fermentation. The moisture content of meju was showed to be in the range of 34.7 - 29.4％ being 32.7％(w/w) of mean value. Titratable acidities in CMs prepared with black bean(BCM) and soybean(SCM) were much higher than that in control meju, and BCM was similar to SCM. Free sugar content in BCM(123.98 mg％) was 10 times and 2.1 times higher than that in control meju(15.02 mg％) and SCM(59.85 mg％), respectively. Amino type nitrogen content in control meju was 147.00 mg％ and its content in BCM(255.50 mg％) was 1.37 times higher than that in SCM(187.25 mg％). Total organic acid content in BCM(95.98 mg％) and SCM(1l9.98 mg％) were much higher than that in control meju(26.44 mg％), and then lactic and malic acid contents were markedly changed according to capsulation of meju. Lightness value(L) of Hunter color index was much higher in BCM than in SCM. Fatty acid composition of CM was not different as compared to control meju. Total free amino acid content in BCM(1039.70 mg％) was 4.4 times and 2.4 times higher than that in control meju(236.45 mg％) and SCM(556.07 mg％), respectively.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.1158-1165
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• 1997

This study was designed to investigate the changes in microflora and enzyme activities of traditional kochujang during aging, which was prepared with a meju fermented for various periods of time. The number of bacteria was highest in all samples after 30 days of fermentation at $20^{\circ}C$, while that of mold in kochujang prepared with a 40-day- or 60-day-fermented meju was highest at 15th day of aging when yeast appeared. The activities of carbohydrases and proteases were highest in kochujang prepared with a 40-day-fermented meju followed by a 60-day-fermented meju. These results suggest that kochujang prepared with a meju aged for 40 days had the highest quality in terms of physicochemical, microbiological and enzyme activities of kochujang during fermentation.

• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.291-295
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• 2014

Mycoflora was assessed in the commercial meju from four well-separated geographic origins. A total of 112 fungal isolates were identified by phenotypic characteristics and molecular taxonomy using sequencing the internal transcribed spacer of the rDNA and revealed 19 species from 13 genera. Enzymatic characteristics of protease and amylase, and mycotoxin production were analyzed.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.435-441
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• 1997

Forty seven strains of yeast were isolated from traditional Meju and were identified as Saccharomyces spp. (7 strains), Zygosaccharomyces spp. (7 strains), Kluyveromyces spp. and Hansenula spp. (each 5 strains), Rhodotorular spp. (8 strains), Candida spp. (12 strains), Pichia spp. and Debaryomyces spp. from results of their microbiological characteristics. The optimal medium for growth of all the yeasts was YM media and the optimal initial pH of the medium was 6.0. The optimum temperature for growth was 30$circ$ and among them, Sacch. exiguus OE-5, Sacch. cerevisiae OE-16, Sacch. kluyveri C-1 strains were thermotolerant yeasts which could grow at 40$circ$C.