Starting My First Miso

Thu, Oct 25, 2018

I’d been thinking about making miso ever since first seeing the miso epsiode of It’s Alive. The most intriguing thing about the process is that it yields tamari—a type of soy sauce—as a byproduct of its fermentation. So while making some miso would be a months-long process, I could enjoy the fruits of it continuously throughout the process, and even have a view into the evolution of the flavor.

The other interesting aspect of the whole thing is that the process can be done with any beans, so I could potentially make chickpea miso and tamari (soy-free soy sauce!) for a friend with a troublesome soy allergy. For my first attempt I figured I’d stick with the traditonal all-soy product to get a handle on the process, but if that goes well I’m excited to play around with other legumes.

First, I had to track down some ingredients and equipment. That turned out to be a minor adventure in and of itself. The equipment was easy enough—turns out Ace Hardware carries 1-gallon ceramic fermentation crocks and weights—but the ingredients were a bit more troublesome.

I made my way down to the International District, expecting that the fantastic Uwajimaya would have everything I needed. The soybeans were right where I expected, but I had no idea where the koji rice would even be stocked. After wandering around until I worked up the nerve to ask someone, I was shown the empty spot where it could normally be found.

Only slightly deterred, I figured I’d try some of the other groceries in the area. I wound up checking out 4 other ones, but all I managed to get was a decent workout walking between them.

And here’s where I confess the story has a boring ending: after failing to find the essential koji locally, I found a few packs that I could overnight on Amazon.

All that aside: armed with the ingredients and my new crock and weights, I studied Brad Leone’s miso method and wrote out a plan. The next free day I had, I got started:

Soybean Miso (Batch 1)

My first batch of miso. Relatively traditional: just soybeans, koji, salt, and time.

Get the Recipe

The first step was soaking the beans overnight. Had I been dealing with a smaller batch, I might have foregone this step and done the cooking in my pressure cooker, but I apparently can’t do anything halfway and decided to make a gallon of miso.

After their extended bath, I cooked them for about 4 hours and reduced them to a thick paste using my immersion blender.

Then came the gradual re-introduction of most of the starchy cooking liquid, salting, and finally the addition of a rather large volume of koji rice.

That’s the initial paste. I wasn’t brave enough to taste any, but from the smell—mostly just salty boiled soybeans—I can’t imagine it would taste all that good. In six months, though, I’m hoping to turn out some damn fine miso. In the mean time, it lives in its crock

with a specially-built lid consisting of a layer of parchment, a plastic-wrapped cardboard disc, and weights.

Not pictured above: I quickly discovered that the ceramic weights I bought weren’t heavy enough for this task, so they’ve been topped with a few plastic containers filled with water, and that seems to have done it.

See more updates for:

• Soybean Miso (Batch 1)