How to Make Miso

Miso – Medicinal food of the Ancients

Miso making is an enjoyable and gratifying activity that can be done during the winter months, yielding its results within a few weeks or keep you in a state of pleasant anticipation for a year or longer. To read about the history of miso and get hundreds of miso recipes, we highly recommend The Book of Miso by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi. Also, the SoyInfo Center, founded by them, has much more information if you want to get into the nitty-gritty of miso.

How to Make Short Term Sweet White Miso          

Before you begin, consider how much miso you want to make. Calculate how much miso you currently use and adjust the recipe below accordingly. Make a bit more than you think you need to allow for aging your next batch and you might want to share some of what you make with family and friends.

Tools needed:

Pressure cooker or pot with lid
Strainer
Mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Crock, ceramic vat, or any food grade container with a cover that fits inside the container
Weights (rocks, container with sand, or gallon jug with water)
Cheesecloth

Ingredients for about 6 lbs of miso:

• 2.5 cups (1 lbs.) of dry organic soybeans
• 5 ½ Tbsp. (approx. 3 oz) unrefined sea salt
• 2 lbs. Rhapsody Short Term Miso Koji
• 3 cups cooking liquid or boiled water

Wash the soybeans well and soak overnight.

Drain the beans. Cook beans submerged in water for 20 minutes without lid and scoop off foam, put cover on and cook further under pressure for one hour. Without pressure, cook 2 hours or until very soft.

Pour off the cooking liquid, but save it because this is also the mixing liquid you will need later. Let the beans cool down to body temperature (98 degrees Fahrenheit) .

Mix the koji with some of the cooled down cooking liquid and let soften. Mix the salt, koji, and half of the cooking liquid, then mix with the cooked beans. Mix and mash with a potato masher or grind through a meat grinder until you get a homogeneous paste. Add more of the liquid until the mixture is smooth, but still thick enough to form a ball.

Transfer this paste to a container that you have rubbed with salt. Press it in tightly to make sure you don’t have any air bubbles. Dust the top with a little salt and cover it with a thick clean cloth. A cheese cloth or a canvas drop cloth from the hardware store that has been washed and rinsed first works very well. Make sure there are no soap residues. Put a plate or wooden lid on it that fits within the container and weigh it down with a heavy rock or other heavy object. The weight should be close to being as heavy as the miso. This prevents souring and yeasting.

Let this mixture sit at ambient temperature for at least a week in hot weather or at least 3 weeks during the winter months.

You can use it after 1-3 weeks or let it age even longer. There is no need to refrigerate it as long as you have the weight on it. If there is mold growth on the cloth or the miso, just scrape it off. The liquid that gathers at the top is soysauce which you can store and use.

How to Make Long Term Mellow Red Miso

Ingredients for about 6 lbs of miso:

• 4 cups (1.6 lbs.) of dry organic soybeans
• 16 Tbsp. (approx. 8 oz) unrefined sea salt
• 1 lbs. Rhapsody Long Term Miso Koji
• 3 – 3.5 cups cooking liquid or boiled water

Wash the soybeans well and soak overnight.

Drain the beans. Cook beans submerged in water for 20 minutes without lid and scoop off foam, put cover on and cook further under pressure for one hour. Without pressure, cook 4-5 hours or longer so the beans turn a deep dark red or brown.

Pour off the cooking liquid, but save it because this is also the mixing liquid you will need later. Let the beans cool down to body temperature (98 degrees Fahrenheit) .

Mix the koji with some of the cooled down cooking liquid and let soften. Mix the salt, koji, and half of the cooking liquid, then mix with the cooked beans. Mix and mash with a potato masher or grind through a meat grinder until you get a homogeneous paste. Add more of the liquid until the mixture is smooth, but still thick enough to form a ball.

Transfer this paste to a container that you have rubbed with salt. Press it in tightly to make sure you don’t have any air bubbles. Dust the top with a little salt and cover it with a thick clean cloth. A cheese cloth or a canvas drop cloth from the hardware store that has been washed and rinsed first works very well. Make sure there are no soap residues. Put a plate or wooden lid on it that fits within the container and weigh it down with a heavy rock or other heavy object. The weight should be close to being as heavy as the miso. This prevents souring and yeasting.

Let this mixture sit at ambient temperature for at least 6 months. Traditionally miso is made during the winter months when the air has less organisms in it that could spoil the miso. A batch of miso ideally would go through one summer and not be used until Fall. When miso is aged longer it will develop its flavor and get darker.

There is no need to refrigerate it as long as you have the weight on it. If there is mold growth on the cloth or the miso, just scrape it off. The liquid that gathers at the top is soysauce which you can store and use.

Tips when making miso