A quick disclaimer on this recipe – I lifted nearly all of this from the excellent book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods
How do I make homemade shiro miso? I’ve been threatening for years to write up a proper recipe for miso, so here we go. You are going to learn how to make a deliciously sweet and salty miso called shiromiso (lit. white miso). Shiromiso is the quickest of all the miso ferments, sometimes yielding in just a month. Most of the fermentation process takes place from only the fungus kojikin (麹菌) Aspergillus oryzae (koji), whereas a longer ferment miso is created from both koji and the proliferation of Lactobacilli. Shiromiso is more popular in the Kansai region of Japan.
What you need
- Special Equipment
- Stock pot for cooking the soybeans
- Large strainer
- Crock or food-grade plastic bucket with a plate that fits the width
- Cheese cloth or plastic bag (I use both)
- Ingredients
- 4 cups (1 liter) dried soybeans
- 1/2 cup salt
- 10 cups/3.5 lbs (1.5kg) koji
What to do
Step 1 – Soak beans in plenty of water overnight. They should double (or more) in size.
Step 2 – Put the beans in a large pot, cover them with a few inches of water and bring to a low boil. Cook the beans at a low to medium boil until they are soft enough to smoosh one between your fingers. Soybeans take a long time to cook so make sure you stir them, add water as necessary and keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
Step 3 – Strain the beans; reserve the liquid.
Step 4 – Measure out 2 cups of the cooking liquid; completely dissolve the 1/2 cup of salt in it and set it aside.
Step 5 – Mash the beans in a separate container. I’ve used a potato masher, the bottom of a heavy glass and a food processor – all work equally well (but the food processor creates a very even consistency).
Step 6 – When the brine is no longer hot (warm to the touch is just fine), mix well with the koji.
Step 7 – Mix and incorporate the koji and mashed soybeans together. I use my hands for this because it’s fun, just make sure they are clean. That’s food your sticking your grubby hands into, and the bacteria you introduce could interact poorly with the good flora in the koji. Protip. Just sayin’.
Step 8 – Pack your miso into your miso receptacle and smooth the surface, pressing down to expel any air pockets. Set a plate on top with a heavy weight to press the miso down. I use boiled river rocks liberated from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but I’ve also used a gallon jug of water and a stack of heavy plates. Just make sure whatever you use is CLEAN!
Step 9 – Cover your crock in cheese cloth, a towel, a plastic bag – you need to keep it sealed to prevent flies, dust sprites and beasties from smelling the deliciousosity and crawling inside to check it out.
Step 10 – Stick the container in a warm, out-of-the-way place in your kitchen for two months. Seriously, that’s it. No need to peek or anything, but if you WANT to decant a bit in a month you can. I just leave it alone for two months and decant it all at the end.
Decanting miso
When you open up your crock, there’s a good chance you’ll be greeted by some off-putting mold. Rest assured the product beneath is awesome. Just take a spoon and scrape off the layer of mold and discard. I realize some folks stir it back into the miso, but that is totally up to you – I never do that.
I like to then puree the shiromiso in a food processor, but that is honestly up to you as well. You can enjoy as is, all chunky and delicious, or puree to a fine, store-bought consistancy.
Shiromiso, with it’s reduced salt content, wants to be refrigerated. It will last you a lot longer and reduce the chance of more (harmless) mold forming on the surface. If mold does form after refrigeration, just scrape it off and discard.
I will be updating this blog with a variety of recipes you can use miso in, but I honestly try to incorporate it into everything. Miso is a highly versatile, flavorful ingredient. If you do use it in some unorthodox way I would love to hear about it in the comments section below! Please post pics as well if you can, and happy fermenting!
I’m not sure how unorthodox it is, but I use shiromiso consistently in Italian and French ‘classic’ cooking as an umami booster and salt substitute. The two most common uses here for me are in stock production and roasting whole chickens. For stocks, I add it along with the bones, both roasted for brown stock and raw for white stock. For roasting, rather than coat a chicken in oil or pack it in salt, I encrust it with miso. I generally don’t eat the skin – not a huge fan of it, and a couple tablespoons of crisped miso is a mightily potent flavor. But I do save it for brown stock production later on.
Sorry, no photos.
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The tastiest salmon I’ve made was coated in red miso and tea smoked in a stovetop smoker. I was a little strong, so looking forward to trying it next time with the shiromiso.
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It. It was a little strong. Damn tiny netbook keyboard.
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@Bryn – What exactly is “tea smoked”?
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Tea smoked makes tasty tasty fish. The fish is cooked in a stove top smoker with dry tea in place of mesquite chips or other wood. Sometimes the tea is mixed with dry rice, other herbs and flavors can be added, a little brown sugar etc. The low heat of the smoke cooks fish perfectly, but other meats work too. I found a recipe for tea smoked duck breast that I want to try. Just google “tea smoked” and you will hit tons of recipes, some Asian, some not. Also, don’t waste your money on a stove top smoker, you can use any heavy, lidded pot or roasting pan and heavy duty tin foil to build your own. You will need good exhaust in your kitchen though.
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@Bryn Sounds awesome! I want to try it, but I’ll have to figure out the exhaust thing… 100 y/o apartment buildings here aren’t too big on things like exhaust fans, wiring, fire codes, etc. :)
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Hi Mathias.
Again, thank you so much for posting this shiromiso making steps. I made a double batch last weekend (so I can share with my mom and sisters) and it looks wonderful, can’t wait until it’s done. Now I like to try making japanese shoyu (since I have koji starter), but unable to find the real intructions. Do you happen to know how to make it? or where can I search for the intruction. Just thought you may know since your specialty is in Japanese food. Thanks.
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Mathias Purtlebaugh Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 11:24 am
I don’t know off the top of my head… I’ve never made it. When I made aka miso a few years back, a natural side-effect of the process is the production of tamari, of which I got about a cup. Shoyu is something I’ve yet to try to make, but I will definitely look into recipes for it now! I’ll let you know if anything turns up :D
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Thanks. Here is what my search get me so far.
I have read up from The Book of Miso and gather this formula. 10 lbs soybeans crack and soak 24 hrs, then steam 5-1/2hrs; 10 lbs whole wheat roasted golden brown, then crack or grind ccoarsely, and mix with steamed soybeans and koji starter, incubate 3 days, mix twice during this time. Boil 3.4 gallon water, mix with 8 lbs salt. Mix koji with salt water, stir 1-3 times a day for the first week, then 1-3 times a week from then on. 6-12 months should be ready. If it’s hot, stir 3 times a day ect…
Now, that is general informations on making Shoyu, sounds very simple. I read from a few sources, but could not come up with a clear intruction like your miso recipes. I am looking for the details like: can you boil the beans instead of steam for 5 hrs? Or do you have to steam the wheat after roasted and cracked it? Or do you cover the top with cloths or plastic, or nothing? Can you ferment in the sun to speed up the process? The pictures of Shoyu companies don’t cover theirs. I emailed Gem cultures and asked to buy the recipes for making Shoyu, because they sale koji with instruction copy. If I can not get the recipes, I may just wink my first batch with the genral info I got. Will let you know how it turns out.
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