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MIS
Making miso is simple, not time consuming, except for the fact that it takes a winter, spring, and summer to ferment so 6 to 12 months minimum. It’s almost fool-proof
and is highly do-able
for amateurs as well as experienced cooks. The method, as written is long, but the thing about making your own miso, is that, if you live outside of Japan you should really make your own miso. Even the best commercial available organic miso varieties will not be anywhere near as tasty.
by Nancy Singleton Hachisu
I first arrived in Japan in the summer of 1988. I had eaten miso soup, but otherwise really had no idea of how to use miso or what exactly miso was. Each trip to the supermarket was like a bewildering excursion through unknown territory. What were all those strange packaged foods? In the United States we have whole walls of shelves dedicated to breakfast cereal or soft drinks. In 1988 Japan, rice held a prominent wall, as did miso. I remember shelves of plastic containers and bags of miso. I was convinced that those containers held peanut butter, not miso. That shows you how insular I was despite my so-called worldly outlook. Over the years, ironically I lost the taste for peanut butter but developed one for miso with a vengeance— the strange has become commonplace and vice versa.
12 Harvest 2015
www.edibleorangecounty.com