Miso making in Kiso Town, Nagano, Japan

Miso is a traditional fermented food in Japan. People in Japan make soup by miso, which is called “miso shiru” in Japanese, and they eat “miso shiru” almost everyday. Miso is thought as one of secret foods that make Japanese people long living. People in Kiso town make miso in spring and ferment them around half a year. 

I joined the experience of miso making in Furusato Taikenkan Fukushima with friends in April. The place was the campus of Kurokawa  Primary School, and reused as a place for country life experience after the closure of school.

I try to translate the receipt from Japanese to English. I'll be happy if my translation can help you to understand miso making.

Raw materials for 45kg miso are: 

Soybean: 13kg

Malted rice: 10kg

Salt: 5.5kg

Salt water: water 4,400cc with salt 664g.

How to make?

Step1 Wash soybean and soak it in water (the amount is around 3 times of the soybean)  for one night.

Step 2 Boil or steam soybean until beans can be crushed easily by thumb and little finger 

The foam in the pot looked like milk foam. We took some foam and drank it with coffee.

Unfortunately, it tasted not good...because of the strong taste of soybean...
But if you like the smell and taste of soybean, I really recommend soybean foam. Actually, it is really healthy.

Step 3 Drain the water off the soybean by basket and crush beans by crushing machine.

Crushing was a hard work for us. We did on rotating shift.

I had arm pain even in the next day...( maybe I need much more exercise)

Step 4 Mix crushed soybean (normal temperature)  in with malted rice, salt and salt water.

Step 5 Fill a clean and dry container with mixture, press the mixture in order to take out the air

Step 6 Immerse bleached cotton in “shochu”, a kind of liquor in Japan with alcohol content 35% and wring cotton slightly. Put it on the mixture and put sake lees in block on the cotton (for the purpose of mold generation preventing). Then spread the remaining cotton on sake lees and put heavy stones on. (The weight of heavy stones is around 20%~25% of the mixture)

We did until step 6 on that day. We took container back home and complete miso making at home from step 7.

Step 7 Cover the container by plastic bag from the top of container, in order to prevent contamination.

Step 8 Keep the container at a warm place (temperature is around 25 degree to 30 degree) not exposed to direct sunlight to activate enzyme action of aspergillus oryzae and the activities of micro organism.

Step 9 Plow to replace surface mixture with the lower mixture (at least 1 time after 20th July), to increase the yeast in mixture and promote the generation of good quality  alcohol. 

Step 10 Miso will be completed when the salt is dissolved totally. 

Keep miso in a cool place (below 15 degree) not exposed to direct sunlight after aged.

• The best temperature for fermentation is 25 degree to 30 degree. Thus, it is better to keep the container filled with miso at a warm place. Miso will be colored when the temperature is above 30 degree, while it will not be colored when the temperature is below 15 degree. It will be helpful for coloring that plow the lower mixture to replace surface mixture. (The color of miso will turn dark when fermentation is progressing. People thought miso will be delicious if fermented well.)
• After aged, miso need to be kept at a cool place for preventing fermentation.

(All of the information about miso making is from Furusato Taikenkan Fukushima)

We stated to boil soybean at around 6:30am, and finished our work on that day (until step 6) at around 12:00 am.

After the work, we had lunch in the restaurant run by Furusato Taikenkan Fukushima. 

Buckwheat noodles made by local buckwheat with pickled radish (pink colored), People in Kiso town believe the botanical lactic acid bacteria in pickles are helpful for their health.

Gohei mochi  is a local food made by glutinous rice and sesame sauce. I like the sesame sauce. It tasted like sesame candy I eat in China.