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The history of miso goes all
the way back to the Asuka Period, and it is said that it originated
from ancient China.
Since then, for over 1,200 years miso has been nurtured and developed
within the Japanese daily diet.
At first, miso was an luxury item only to be cherished among temples
and the aristocracy alone, miso has been nurtured and developed within
the Japanese daily diet. At first, miso was an luxury item only to
be cherished among temples and the aristocracy alone, After that,
miso was made to suit each region of Japan, according to the local
ingredients, climates, and preferences.
They became the "taste of home", each with own local traits.
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Fermentation and maturation
of miso are done by the activities of microorganism.
Their activities differ due to various conditions such as climate,
environment, water quality, etc.
It is said that each storehouse will produce miso differently.
We have classified these countless number of local miso into major
groups. |
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By looking at the ingredients,
we can classify 3 types of miso, such as rice miso, wheat miso, and
soy miso.
There also is mixed miso, which has some or all of 3 basic types of
miso.
Rice miso is made by adding rice koji into soybeans, and wheat miso
is made by adding wheat koji into soybeans.
Soy miso has only soybeans as its main ingredients. |
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Miso can be classified by taste, such as mild or hot.
Degree of hot flavor depends on the amount of salt, however another
deciding factor is the proportion of koji. Proportion of koji means
the ratio between rice koji or wheat koji and basic ingredients soybeans.
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| Red miso |
Light-colored miso |
White miso |
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Miso is classified into red miso, light-colored
miso, and white miso, depending on its color at the time of completion.
The color of miso depends on the various conditions, such as type
of soybeans used as main ingredients, whether to boil or steam soybeans,
how much koji is used in the process, and whether it was stirred during
fermentation process or not, etc. |
The reason for different degrees of color in
miso is due to "Maillard reaction", which happens during
fermentation and maturation process. Maillard reaction occurs when
the amino acid mainly from soybeans reacts with sugar and turn to
brownish color.
Even after miso becomes a completed product, maturation process continues,
making the color darker. |
Classification by
ingredients |
Classification
by
color and taste |
Range of koji ratio
(Common example) |
Salt Content (%)
(Common example) |
Area of production |
| Rice
miso |
Mild
Miso |
White |
15`30 (20) |
5`7 (5.5) |
Kinki prefectures, Okayama, Hiroshima,
Yamaguchi, and Kagawa |
| Red |
12`20 (15) |
5`7 (5.5) |
Tokyo |
| Mild
Miso |
Light-
colored |
8`15 (12) |
7`12 (7.0) |
Shizuoka, Kyushu Region |
| Red |
10`15 (14) |
11`13 (12.0) |
Tokushima, Others |
| Hot
Miso |
Light-
colored |
5`10 (6) |
11`13 (12.0) |
Kantokoshinetsu, Hokuriku, and all
over Japan |
| Red |
5`10 (6) |
11`13 (12.5) |
antokoshinetsu, Tohoku, Hokkaido,
and all over Japan |
| Wheat
miso |
Mild
Miso |
15`25 (17) |
9`11 (10.5) |
Kyushu, Shikoku, Chugoku Region |
| Hot
Miso |
5`10 (10) |
11`13 (12.0) |
Kyushu, Shikoku, Chugoku, Kanto Region |
| Soy miso |
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(Total amount) |
10`12 (11.0) |
Chukyo Region (Aichi, Mie, Gifu) |
| ¦Adapted from: Knowing Miso (Promoting health
with miso committee) |
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