Miso: Japanese soya bean paste (味噌)

n the olden days of self-isolation, Japan was a strictly Buddhist country. In culinary terms it meant that meat consumption was banned. For protein, the Japanese had to rely on fish and beans. When others would be content chewing on fried fish and boiled beans, the Japanese went to great lengths to diversify their diet. Beans alone come in a myriad of often unrecognisable, yet very delicious guises.

Miso is one of those. Essentially, it is salted bean paste fermented with Japan's official national micro-organism, Aspergillus oryzae, known in Japanese as kouji-kin (麴菌). The paste is also augmented with ground grain such as rice, barley, mullet or buckwheat. Fermentation makes beans more easily digestible and, in fact, even medicinal. Miso consumption is credited with a slew of health benefits starting from hypertension control to curing radiation sickness.

As it always goes with food in Japan, there are hundreds of regional varieties. They all can be divided into four big categories:

1. shiro-miso, which is of a blonder hue as in the top picture,
   
2. aka-miso, which is dark(er) brown,
3. kuro-miso is the darkest of them all,
4. hatcho-miso has the strongest flavour.

Most famous regional varieties include:

• Hatchou miso (八丁味噌) - Aichi Prefecture
• Nagoya miso (名古屋味噌) - Aichi Prefecture
  
• Sanshu miso (三州味噌), slightly bitterirsh miso widely used in kaiseki dishes - Nagoya Prefecture
  
• Kujo miso (郡上味噌), based on a mix of barley and beans - Gifu Prefecture
• Gozen miso (御膳味噌), red sweet-tasting miso with a high content of ground rice - Tokushima Prefecture
  
• Kinzanji miso (金山寺味噌, 径山寺味噌), the base paste is made from beans, rice barley and vegetables - Wakayama Prefecture
  
• Aijiro miso (相白味噌), blonde sweet-tasting miso - Shizuoka Prefecture
  
• Hokkaido miso (北海道味噌) - Hokkaido Prefecture
  
• Tsugaru miso (津軽味噌), spicy-tasting red miso - Aomori Prefecture
  
• Akita miso (秋田味噌) - Akita Prefecture
• Sendai miso (仙台味噌), spicy tasting miso with rice and with coarsely ground beans, can be consumed raw - Miyagi Prefecture
• Aizu miso (会津味噌) - Fukushima Prefecture
• Echigo miso( 越後味噌) - Niigata Prefecture
• Sado miso (佐渡味噌) - Niigata Prefecture
• Etchu miso (越中味噌), light miso with whole rice grains, aka "water miso" - Toyama Prefecture
  
• Kaga miso (加賀味噌) - Ishikawa Prefecture
• Seikyou miso (西京味噌) - Kyoto Prefecture
• Fuchu miso (府中味噌) - Hiroshima Prefecture
• Sanuki miso (讃岐味噌) - Kagawa Prefecture
• Shimabara miso (島原味噌), barley-based - Nagasaki Prefecture
• Satsuma miso (薩摩味噌), sweet-tasting barley-based miso - Kagoshima Prefecture
• Edo Amamiso (江戸甘味噌) - Tokyo Prefecture
• Shinshu Miso (信州味噌) - Nagano Prefecture
• Sakura Miso (桜味噌) - Osaka Prefecture
• Akadashi (赤だし) - Kyoto Prefecture - 豆・米調味味噌
• Sotetsu miso (蘇鉄味噌) or Nari miso (なり味噌), made from detoxified cycad fruit - Okinawa Prefecture and Amami Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture
  

Apart from its main role as the base of miso-shiru soup, miso is a very versatile condiment. One of the effects of fermentation is the increased content of amino acids that our taste buds perceive as savoury. This makes it a welcome ingredient in many dishes. It is used to pickle vegetables in the marinade called miso-zuke.

Other ways to use miso in cooking include:

• miso udon
• basting mix for dengaku, yakimochi and corn on the cob
• marinades
• misoyaki sauce