What is Miso?

Miso is a savoury fermented paste of soybeans and rice, and sometimes barley. It has a distinctive amino acid-rich salty taste and is used extensively in Japanese cuisine in soups, salad dressings, sauces, marinades and glazings. Miso also features to a lesser degree in Korean and Chinese cooking. As miso mixes with both oil and water, it is easily blended with many other ingredients like honey, soy sauce and alcohol. Because of this versatility, in recent times Miso has been gaining traction in the fast growing world of fusion cuisine. 

There are some nice Korean varieties but for our purposes I’ll only discuss the types of miso from Japan, which are universally accepted as of the highest quality and available in stores around the world. Miso has two primary ingredients. Firstly, there is the Koji, which is mold cultured on rice (kome koji), soybeans (mame koji) or barley (mugi koji). The second key ingredient is soybeans, which the koji is used to ferment. Salt and water make up the remaining ingredients. Because there are three types of Koji and the ratio of Koji to soybeans, fermentation time and conditions, cooking method (steaming or boiling) can all vary, miso comes in dozens of varieties. Though it would be a gross generalization, for convenience you can group them into five types. They are:

• Rice Miso (米味噌 = Kome-miso)
  The vast majority of miso made in Japan is of this variety. Rice miso as the name implies is made fermenting rice koji with boiled soybeans. It comes in many shades of dark yellow and light brown and is aged from 6 to 12 months. This is the miso that one would typically use in miso soup, miso ramen and miso salad dressing. Rice miso is what you would call a medium or middle of the road variety and if someone mentions miso without specifying which type, they are usually referring to this miso. If you intend to stock only one type of miso, this is the one. Rice miso loses some flavour and aroma as it is cooked, so you should turn off the heat as soon as your soup boils. Shinshu Miso, also known as Yellow miso, is a popular sub-type of rice miso.

• Red Miso (赤味噌 = Aka-miso) 
  This is a stronger tasting variety of miso, originally from the Tohoku region in Northern Honshu, made with a longer aging period (1 to 3 years). Though it is called red miso, I would describe its colour more as a dark brown. This colour is a result of steaming the soybeans instead of boiling them. The koji is made from rice and/or barley. A higher ratio of soybeans to koji is used in red miso and thus it contains more protein than other types, which gives it its intense flavour. Red miso has the special characteristic of developing a longer lingering and richer taste (the Japanese called this Kokumi) as it is cooked or boiled (i.e. the opposite of rice miso). For this reason, red miso is often used in braised dishes, as a seasoning in cooked dishes such as curry and also as a glaze. Examples of recipes that use Red Miso are my Miso-cured Chicken Wings, Spaghetti in Miso Cream Sauce and Japanese Style Baked Seafood.

• White Miso (白味噌 = Shiro-miso)
  This is a milder variety which is made using a low ratio of soybeans to koji. The koji is made made from rice and sometimes barley. It is not actually white; I would describe its colour as more of a beige. The light colour is a result of its short fermentation period, which can be as short as a few weeks. The higher ratio of rice results in a high carbohydrate content, so white miso is often described as sweet or even creamy. One common dish that specifies the use of white and not any other type of miso because of these mild and sweet qualities is miso-cured Black Cod. If Miso is an ingredient in a dessert, say in cheese cake, it will also very likely be of this variety. Kyoto’s Saikyo shiro-miso which uses a rice koji is considered by many to be the best White Miso. It is even lighter in colour than regular white miso.
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• Soybean Miso (八丁味噌 = Hatcho-miso)
  This is a rarer all soybean type of miso made with soybean koji, and has the darkest colour of all types of miso. The name Hatcho is derived from the Hatcho district of Okazaki City in Aichi where is was developed 400 years ago, though varieties are also made elsewhere (generically called mame miso). Soybean miso has slight astringent and bitter overtones and is held in high regard, even considered by some to be the king of miso. Like for red miso, the soybeans are steamed and hatcho miso is used in cooking as opposed to soups.
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• Blended Miso (合わせ味噌 = Awase-miso)
  This is a mixture of any of the above, just as one would blend whiskies create new varieties. These can be used as if it is a rice miso.

To summarize, for soups and salads and general use, use rice (yellow) miso or blended miso. For sauces, glazing and braising, red miso is the more appropriate miso. And if you need a something mild and/or sweet, go with white miso. Even if you are not into Oriental cooking, you will find miso a great way to impart an additional layer of flavour in many types of Western dishes. Simply use it in place of salt. Depending on where you are, you can think of miso as a seasoning agent in the same class as Maggi Sauce, Marmite or Vegimite. To give you an idea of which miso goes with what – I would use yellow miso in French Onion Soup or Lobster Thermidor, red miso in a Cassoulet or Ossobuco and white miso for Caesar’s Salad Dressing or Cheese Cake.

Miso typically comes in a transparent plastic tub which has a loosely fitting cover. It should be stored it the refrigerator once the tub is unsealed. I usually fold a piece of cling film in four and place it over the top of the tub before closing the lid for a snug fit. Never touch the miso in the container with anything other than a clean spoon. If you take these steps, miso can easily be kept for over a year.

A Chinese Alternative to Miso – Red Beancurd

• Although miso originated in China, I’d generally avoid the blackish stuff that passes as miso in China; its of a poor quality and if I’m not mistaken, they typically make it as a by-product of fermenting soya sauce. Chinese miso is mostly used as an intermediate ingredient for other flavouring agents, like hoisin sauce.
• There is however something miso-like from China that merits attention, and that is red fermented beancurd (南乳). Instead of using cooked soybeans like miso, as the name implies, soybeans are first made into regular tofu, and it si this tofu that is fermented. A red yeast grown on rice (i.e. the koji) is introduced to tofu cubes in a glass jar, and then the tofu is left to ferment. At some point salt, water and Chinese wine are also added. Eventually the jars are sold to the customer.  
• As fermented bean curd doesn’t instantly disintegrate in liquid, there is a pretty standard way to turn it into a sauce. You first heat up a pan with oil, and then add 1T red bean curd, 1T Chinese wine, 1T soy sauce and 1t sugar, mash everything into a smooth sauce, then add water to create the consistency desired. 
• Fermented red beancurd is what I think of as the Chinese equivalent of red miso. It has great umami qualities and goes well with meat. Use it for marinating meat, and also for stews, even vegetarian stews.