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RECIPE
homemade brown rice miso <RST>TEZUKURI GENMAI MISO Makes 6 Pounds (3.5 Kg)
Although tackling making miso may seem intimidating, it is really much simpler than you may imagine. I encourage you to take the plunge because when you end up with a vat of home- made miso that has your own taste, the sense of accomplish- ment is unrivaled.
Mitoku organic brown rice koji and barley koji can be ordered through the Natural Import Company, an excellent source for top-quality Japanese ingredients, and white rice koji is available online at South River in Massachusetts or Cold Mountain Miso. This method follows the one used at the Yamaki Jozo miso-making workshop. The large percentage of koji results in a full-flavored, almost sweet miso. Good-quality dried soybeans are readily found in the bulk organic section of your best organic shop. Though I use Japanese sea salt, just use a good-quality local or even Italian white sea salt, preferably naturally dried. Make miso in the cool months from late November through early March to give it time to rest before the fermentation arc starts to climb as the weather warms in the spring and summer.
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds (1 kg) best-quality non-GMO dried soybeans
2 teaspoons best-quality organic miso (or previous year’s homemade) to use as seed miso for the new batch
2 pounds (1 kg) brown rice koji
14 ounces (400 g) fine white sea salt
DIRECTIONS
1. Soak the soybeans for 18 hours in a large pot of cold filtered water. Drain the beans, return them to the pot, and refill the pot to about 5 inches (10 cm) above the beans. Bring to a boil over high heat, lower to a simmer, and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, uncovered, until the beans are soft. The idea here is to simmer the beans in just enough liquid so they cook well but eventually most of the liquid is boiled away by the time the beans are cooked. Traditionally, the beans are steamed for 1 1/2 hours in wooden steaming boxes stacked over a large cauldron set over a very hot wood fire. The beans can also be
16 Harvest 2015
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