beans

Sweet soybean miso, 13 months old

Sweet soybean miso, 13 months old: Salt crust on surface, with tamari pool in the centre

I made this miso with the intention to begin eating it after just six months… Hence the almost equal ratio of beans to koji rice, as it was meant to be a quick ferment, by miso standards! But then I mostly forgot about it, and it sat in the cool darkness beneath my house for over a year. Luckily, miso is pretty forgiving. This is utterly delicious! The recipe came from the files of the always inspiring Art of Miso group on Facebook.

Mixing the miso

Salting the inside of the jar

2 1/2 cups dried soy beans
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp coarse canning salt (plus more for jar)
2 1/4 cup koji rice
3/4 to 1 cup bean cooking liquid

Cover beans with several inches of water, and cook until soft. Strain and reserve cooking liquid.
Let beans cool.
Wash and dry a 2 Litre jar.
Dissolve salt in 3/4 cup bean cooking liquid.
Mash or puree beans, with immersion blender or food mill or hands, adding the salt and bean cooking liquid as needed to make a thick paste.
Mix in koji rice, and more liquid if desired.
Wet the inside of the jar with fresh water and coat lightly with salt.
Form miso into tight balls in your hands, then pack tightly into jar, pushing them down firmly intro each other to fill jar with no air holes.
Fill jar to within 3″ of top.
Add 1/2″ of salt on surface.
If desired, add a small jar on surface as a weight; this helps to create a pool of tamari to harvest later.
Put on lid, but do not fully tighten… We need air!
Store somewhere cool and dark for 6 months.

Freshly made! See the salt crystals still clear on the surface and edges?

After 13 months! There’s tamari visible on the surface, as well as some in the bottom of the jar

Want to come make miso with me? We’ll be doing just that on Saturday, June 17th, at the Compost Education Centre!