Miso (paste)

Miso belongs to the ancient family of fermented legume pastes found throughout East Asia, but it is in Japan that it has achieved its most refined and enduring form. Introduced or developed under the influence of exchanges with continental China, it became during the Nara period a food recorded in imperial registers, sometimes even used as currency or as wages paid to officials. Over the centuries, each province shaped its own tradition, according to climate, available rice or barley, and the fermentation time tolerated by peasant households. Buddhist monks contributed greatly to its spread, making it a pillar of monastic vegetarian cuisine. It remains today one of the silent pillars of Japanese domestic cooking, passed from household to household long before being industrially produced.

• 1 kg dried soybeans
• 500 g kōji (rice, barley, or soybeans inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae)
• 300 g unrefined sea salt
• reserved soybean cooking water
• a little extra salt to seal the surface

1. Soak the soybeans overnight in a large amount of cold water.
2. Cook the beans slowly over low heat until they crush easily between the fingers, then drain, reserving some of the cooking water.
3. Mash the still-warm beans into a coarse paste, by hand or with a pestle, without seeking a perfectly smooth texture.
4. Mix the cooled soybean paste with the kōji and salt, adding a little cooking water if the mixture seems too dry.
5. Shape compact balls with this mixture and pack them firmly into a stoneware or wooden container, eliminating air pockets.
6. Sprinkle the surface with a thin layer of salt and cover with a weight to press the preparation during fermentation.
7. Leave to rest in a cool, dark place for several months, checking occasionally for undesirable molds.
8. Stir the paste once at mid-fermentation to homogenize the color and aroma before final maturation.

Miso offers a deeply umami flavor, salty and slightly sweet, with notes reminiscent of forest floor, roasted hazelnut, or dried fruit depending on its degree of maturation. Its texture is smooth, dense, sometimes grainy depending on the fineness of the initial grinding. Its aroma, powerful and fermented, evolves over time: lighter and milder when young, darker, fuller-bodied, and more complex after long fermentation.