Miso – Just One Cookbook Kitchen Pantry

Miso is made from soy beans and usually rice or barley, which are steamed, mixed with koji (a fermentation starter) and left to ferment for six months to five years. The longer the fermentation, the darker and richer the miso is.

The taste, aroma, texture and appearance of miso all vary by region.  However we categorize miso into three groups.  Shiro Miso (white miso), Aka Miso (red miso), and Awase Miso (mixed of red and white miso).  I grew up drinking Awase Miso (mixed miso), so you see most of my recipes uses mixed miso unless stated otherwise.

If you want to read more about essential differences between soybean, barley, and rice misos, continue reading here.

Miso is used mainly in soups (miso soup) but we also use it to season many dishes.  You can read more about miso here on Wikipedia, or Japanese site here (日本語).

Substitution: There are no substitute for these.

Photo above: both are Shinshu Miso (信州味噌”) and it’s awase miso.

Some brands of organic miso I use: