Does miso paste contain mushrooms
I had some Miso Glazed Salmon a couple of months ago. I loved it, and would like to recreate it at home. The only Problem is that I don't quite know what's in the paste and My brother is allergic to mushrooms. I've done a Google search with no definite answers.
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I think it's the best miso on the market and the ingredient list is up front.
https://www.great-eastern-sun.com/
Some of the confusion is that Miso SOUP is made with dashi which *sometimes* has mushrooms, but not always.
Speaking of which...what's up with North Carolina and Japanese products?
It's one of the few places in the US where Wasabi roots are grown and sold.
http://www.realwasabi.com/
I'll still eat miso soup tho because most places don't use the shaiitake element in thier dashi--and well dashi hasn't bothered me, but I have been hit with the rash from some thai coconut soups and lettuce wraps.
First off, it can be made in as little as three weeks. I usually ferment mine from four to six weeks for richer flavour. This is sweet miso. Red miso is fermented at least a year and started in the coldest part of the winter (Dec through Feb traditionally) - for reasons that you don't really need to know just yet. This year I hope to put up a 5 gallon batch of red miso, but I want to perfect sweet miso first.
I've never tried making less than a gallon. For fancy reasons of volume to surface area ( http://books.google.ca/books?id=SKqJsiZ49HkC&lpg=PP1&dq=miso&pg=PA168#v=onepage&q&f=true ) it's suppose to work best if it's no smaller than that. However, it doesn't mean that it's not possible to make a smaller batch. 2 pounds of beans (the amount needed for one gallon of sweet miso) usually costs $4-$8 here, Koji rice about $2 a pound (needs two pounds), and sea salt roughly 5 oz. so it's not a financial hardship to make a gallon batch.
I use the ceramic lining from an old slow cooker for making miso in these days as it's easiest to clean and the internal dimensions fit my plate perfectly.
**Personal opinion warning!** Personally I would not use the flip top jars for miso making, or any airlock system. For starters, traditional miso making doesn't use an airlock (which is what the flip top jars give - it lets gass out but not air in). Airlocks are a relatively recent invention andit's really not necessarily in traditional foods. Before that the 'airlocks' had a tendency to breath (like bladders or wood). There are a lot of vocalization in favour of airlocks and they don't do much harm in simple vegi ferments so long as there is enough salt or.... I'm going to stop here before it goes too far. For my full rant on airlocks: http://wholewheatfsm.blogspot.ca/2013/12/do-i-need-airlock-to-make-sauerkraut.html There are some advantages to airlocks, but I don't see them for miso making. Others love airlocks, so if you belong to that camp, use what you like best. It's unlikely to do any harm to small batch miso making. If you do use your jar, let me know how it goes.
I found that miso likes to breath a tiny bit, both in and out. An open vat works well (covered with inner lid, weight and towel - in case anyone reading here is new to vat vs airlock system - which isn't the same as just leaving it open to the elements). Some traditions cover the top of the miso in the vat with soaked kombu (kelp) seaweed to reduce airflow. This also adds to the flavour and digestibility of the miso which makes it my personal preference.
Anyway, if you want to do a miso-a-long, that would be fantastic. Been a real pleasure talking with you here on the form.
I definitely want to make the garbanzo miso as opposed to soy. I have access to local, organic dried garbanzos for $1.99 lb. Not sure where to find the koji rice, but h mart will be a good start. I will look for a katz recipe and your blogspot. I don't want to purchase a crock, but don't want a miso fail either. My biggest jars are 1.5 litre. I have smaller ones, but they house my preserved lemons and mayo for now.
If you go for the small vat, let me know how it turns out. Otherwise, the local second hand shop should have a crock the right size.
Also, have you tried South River Miso yet? Fantastic soy and non-soy based miso and tamari. Not easy to get in Canada, but lucky for you they are from your area.
This is going to be fun!
I quite like the look of their products and word is they also have good quality cultures.
Short answer, the important difference between barley and brown rice koji is the flavour.
Long answer:
Historically barley miso was most common. Rice was grown for and consumed only by those with higher rank. Barley was the grain of the people, and most miso paste was made at home. After things calmed down from the Second World War, there was a huge influx of rice into Japan (The One Straw Revolution is a good read on this topic). Rice remained a high status food, but suddenly everyone could afford it and it eventually became cheaper than barley. American agricultural techniques imported to Japan at that time discouraged crop rotation. Instead of growing barley as a winter grain, the farmers left the field fallow...&c.
So, latter half of the 20th Century, rice is high status but affordable to everyone. People started making their miso using rice instead of barley. Around this time, more people are moving to the cities, fewer people making their own miso at home encouraged the growth of specialist miso makers. Miso makers that used the more affordable rice instead of barley, so now rice is standard.
But I suspect there is a miso revolution on it's way and we are going to see a lot more barley miso in North America. Barley being packed full of B's and a lot easier to grow in the North than rice. For organic farming, it makes a lot of sense to use Barley in crop rotation, it also requires less water to grow than rice... &c. Basically barley is gentler on the land. Barley is also much easier to grow at home than rice - one eighth of an acre would grow you enough barley and chickpeas to feed a family daily on miso for a year.
Hmm..making my own. I make my own mayo, ghee, sauerkraut, kimchi, cottage and ricotta cheeses, so miso may be next. I use Katz' method for my sauerkraut and kimchi, so I would trust his miso method.
I don't use a crock. I use these. If I decide to make it, will it work?
I have a feeling it's probably not an authentic miso. I've had the real thing at Japanese friend's houses and San Francisco ramen shops and this one is very tasty. I may splurge on a "special" one.
Yes, time to let go of the translation thing. :) It's listed as rice malt, not malted rice.
Pre sometime in the 1970s awase would involve a mix of red and sweet miso, with added sweetener, salt (usually MSG) and preservative. Then ferment for a very short period of time before packaging (and possibly pasteurizing). But we've determined that this brand isn't made that way or it would include koji or 'mold culture' in the label. The lack of Koji tells us that it's a modern manufacturing technique, and not a traditional miso. I'm excited to learn how it was made, though I suspect it will take some digging as modern methods of manufacturing food products tend to be a closely guarded secret.
I can't stress enough what a great resource The Book of Miso by Shurtleff and Aoyagi is. Although it's old (aka, older than me), it's still one of the best english language resources on miso, it's traditions, uses, benefits, methods of home making, and methods of manufacturing (that were common up to the date of publication - 1976) both in Japan and The US.
Though I'm surprised they don't label koji as it's extremely popular as a super-food in Japan lately, and starting to be talked about in local food circles around town here.
I'm going out on a limb and make a big assumption here: I suspect not every person involved in making the laws governing how ingredients are labeled are fully familiar with the differences in preparing grains for fermenting. It could be that since the term 'malt' was already around for beer, whisky, horlicks, &c, that when miso crossed the sea and became popular over here, that the meaning of malt was extended to include all preparation of grain - including mold culture - for fermentation. So we might have an equivocation between the method of malting grain and the end result also being called malt.
Miso, in it's most basic form contains rice, mold (koji), beans (often soy, but not necessarily), salt and water. Some recipes use barley instead of rice, others no grains at all, some contain seaweed (kombu) but most commercial miso don't do this. Like others said, if you are buying miso, check the label.