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Miso paste is a traditional Japanese food made by fermenting soybeans with a mould called koji and sea salt. The most common types of miso are red, white, barley and soybean. Miso was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks in the 7th century, and has several well-known health benefits.
Red miso is a mixture of white rice, barley or soybeans fermented for one to three years. It contains the highest levels of protein. White or yellow miso contains a higher percentage of rice koji and less soybeans, is sweeter than red miso and contains a higher percentage of carbohydrates and a lower percentage of protein. It is only fermented for a few weeks and has a shorter shelf life than other varieties, usually up to two months refrigerated. Soybean miso is a reddish-brown, chunky miso, made only from soybeans with a fermentation period of at least a year.
Miso has many health benefits and a lot of these can be contributed to the koji mould. It is a probiotic, which is good for digestive relief and contains many B vitamins, including B12.
How can you use miso paste?
-- Add a teaspoon of miso paste to hot water for a nutritious alternative to tea or coffee. -- Apply a thin scraping of miso under tahini on some wholemeal toast for a healthy breakfast or snack.
Basic Miso Soup Recipe (in 15 mins, Serves 6)
-- 4 cups (1 liter) dashi stock -- 20g dried seaweed -- 150g silken tofu, cut into 2cm cubes -- 1/4 cup (75g) red miso paste -- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Method
-- Place dashi in a large saucepan and bring to the boil -- Reduce heat to low and add seaweed -- Cook for a minute then add tofu and cook until heated through -- Place miso in a bowl -- Add a little dashi, stirring until miso dissolves -- Add miso to the saucepan and stir to combine -- Bring back to the simmer -- Ladle into bowls and sprinkle over green onions
Note:
Other great ingredients to add to miso soup include shitake mushrooms, carrots, daikon and udon noodles.
The author runs Japan Australia, a blog about Japan containing useful tips and advice about living or traveling to Japan. This blog is dedicated to Japan travel, food, cooking, music, and culture.
© Japan Today
7 Comments
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Shimagaicha
Mix it with mayonnaise and use it for a celery or cucumber stick dip.
Good with beer!
Maria
I bought 4 kinds of miso soup, and drank nothing but that for weeks (don't ask; it wasn't a diet). I learnt that I prefer red to white (white is too sweet and too grainy), but the darkest, aged type, was a bit to much for me. mugi miso and genmai miso were the nicest. If I cooked or ate of the beast, I bet they'd make a nice baste for meat.
Dennis Bauer
Miso ramen is awesome!
Kripp Dick Hendricks
Ooohh, can someone please write an article explaining what Sushi is?????
ebisen
Niso, together with soysauce is the base of umami, the 5th basic taste (together with salty, sweet sour and bitter). I believe people who never experience proper Japanese food, cooked with proper high quality ingredients, really don't know how this 5th taste tastes like ;).
Ranger_Miffy2
Hey folks, lighten up. Miso is a great thing, with many regional varieties. This author gave some good reminders of how to use it. Good work, I say.
Maria
I like miso a lot, it is delicious, and has almost as subtle an umami flavour as blue cheese, morel mushrooms and truffles. It took me years to pluck up the courage to buy some and learn how to use miso, so this article is very useful.