diff --git a/app/models/alchemy/ingredient.rb b/app/models/alchemy/ingredient.rb
index d366c84c99..cc6e88fab4 100644
--- a/app/models/alchemy/ingredient.rb
+++ b/app/models/alchemy/ingredient.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ class DefinitionError < StandardError; end
 
     include Hints
 
+    # MariaDB needs to be told explicitly to use `data` as a JSON store. All other databases
+    # can do this natively.
+    store :data, coder: JSON
+
     self.table_name = "alchemy_ingredients"
 
     belongs_to :element, touch: true, class_name: "Alchemy::Element", inverse_of: :ingredients