stages In the first, dormant green spores of Aspergillus molds are mixed with cooked grains or soybeans, which are then kept warm, moist, and well aerated The spores germinate and develop into a mass of thread-like hyphae, which produce digestive enzymes that break down the food for energy and building blocks The second stage begins after about two days, when the enzymes are at their peak The mixture of food and hyphae, called chhü in China and koji in Japan, is now immersed in a salt brine, often along with more cooked soybeans In the oxygen-poor brine, the molds die, but their enzymes continue to work At the same time, microbes that thrive in the absence of oxygen — salt-tolerant lactic acid bacteria and yeasts — grow in the brine, consume some of the building blocks, and contribute their own flavorful by-products to the mixture The Origins of Miso and Soy Sauce The first foods that the ancient Chinese fermented in brine were pieces of meat or fish These were eventually replaced by whole soybeans around the 2nd century BCE Soy paste became the major condiment around 200 CE and remained so through around 1600, when it was replaced by soy sauce Soy sauce began as a residue resulting when soy paste was made with excess liquid, but it became more popular than the paste, and by 1000 was prepared for its own sake Chinese Soy Pastes and Sauces A number of the condiments used in Chinese cooking as sauces or sauce bases are variations on mold-fermented soybeans, or chiang Their Chinese names reflect this Some examples are: Bean sauce, yuen-shi chiang, made from the residue of soy-sauce making, used to make savory sauces ...foods that the ancient Chinese fermented in brine were pieces of meat or fish These were eventually replaced by whole soybeans around the 2nd century BCE Soy paste became the major condiment around 200 CE and remained... than the paste, and by 1000 was prepared for its own sake Chinese Soy Pastes and Sauces A number of the condiments used in Chinese cooking as sauces or sauce bases are variations on mold-fermented... variations on mold-fermented soybeans, or chiang Their Chinese names reflect this Some examples are: Bean sauce, yuen-shi chiang, made from the residue of soy-sauce making, used to make savory sauces