On 5/3/2015 4:35 PM, dsi1 wrote:
> On Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 12:06:08 PM UTC-10, W. Lohman wrote:
>> On 5/3/2015 4:02 PM, dsi1 wrote:
>>> On Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 9:45:44 AM UTC-10, JRStern wrote:
>>>> Does Chinese "black bean" sauce use the same black beans as Mexican
>>>> black beans, or is the Chinese "black bean" black soybeans?
>>>>
>>>> Actually I'm just off to the market to see what they offer, premade
>>>> "black bean sauce" seems to be the way to go.
>>>>
>>>> J.
>>>
>>> You might be able to find black bean sauce in the store. You are correct that a bottle of that stuff is the way to go. You probably won't find Chinese salted black beans though. The Chinese black beans are fermented soy beans and the Mexican black beans are made of something that's not soybean. The Chinese black beans are used as a seasoning, Mexican black beans are just beans.
>>>
>> The Chinese style are just killer good.
>>
>> The jar of black bean/garlic soybean oil I have is extra tasty on top of
>> sushi rice too!
>
> Well OK - I sold! I had some chili over rice this morning. Boy, that was good stuff.
>
> You might be interested in shio koji, which is sorta the same thing as Chinese black bean in that it's fermented salty stuff except that it's made with rice. I've never used it myself but I've had a bag of the stuff in my refrigerator for months just waiting. I figure it'll last forever though.
>
I added that to my shopping list, thanks!

http://kojiya.jp/shiokoji/

And now I know what to look for.

I'm not afraid of healthy fungi either, so this should be fun to smaple.