JAPANESE FOOD
How to Make Miso at Home
Can it be that simple?
Miso is an ingredient I grew up with.
But I never saw my mother making miso at home. When one of my tea ceremony friends told me she makes miso at home from scratch once a year, I said, “Oh, please let me join you when you make it next time!” The day has finally come!
There are only three ingredients needed to make miso: Soybeans, rice koji, and salt. Koji is fermented rice; you can buy one even in the US. My friend was kind enough to purchase all three for me so all I needed to bring was my pressure cooker and containers.
My friend had soaked soybeans in water overnight. One kilogram of soybean was swollen up with water! Even after draining excess water, it weighed over 2 kg.
I put the soybean into the pressure cooker, added water, and cooked for 20–30 minutes until the beans became so soft that I could squeeze it easily with my fingers.
Once the soybean was cooked, I drained the water (but kept it in case I needed to use it later), and put it into the food processor. You can also mash it with your hands. For how long? Well, I like my miso to have a little crunchiness, so I mashed it not too fine.
In a large bowl, I mixed 1 kg of Koji and 400g of sea salt well by hand. Then I added the mashed soybean and mixed it all together. You can add the water you put aside at this point if the dough is too dry.
The containers used for storing miso should be sterilized. We used vodka and sprayed it inside the containers.
The dough is ready to be stored in the containers. The key point is to pack the dough so tightly that there is no air pocket in the dough. With too much air pocket, black, unwanted mold will grow. You don’t want that.
Seal the top with a wrap to avoid contacting the surface with air. Once sealed tight, store it in a dark and cool place for 4 months. After 4 months, mix it from the bottom and pack it tight again. I can start enjoying the miso after 6 months.
The process was simple, but a big question is if it will turn out well in 6 months…Let’s see!
After making miso, my friend treated me with this wonderful lunch. The miso soup is, of course, made from her own homemade miso! Many thanks to my dear friend!
Thanks to OCTAVIA EVER AFTER for a fun writing prompt!
I’m glad JoAnn Ryan found a delicious cannoli in Seattle!
Sushi seems to have spread wild in the whole world!
Originally published at https://akemisagawa.com on February 5, 2024.
