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Soy and legumes from Tokyo

Edo ama-miso (sweet red rice miso)江戸甘味噌

Edo ama-miso is Tokyo's sweet red miso. Soybeans are steamed under pressure and then held hot in the closed steamer for about 40 hours until they turn red-brown. They are packed warm with a large share of rice koji and little salt, and matured in a hot room for one to two weeks.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes8.8 days – 16 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne example batch from Kawano and Kishino 1999, a koji ratio of 15. Most Edo ama-miso falls within 12–15 koji and 5–6 % salt; recent paler products use more koji and less salt.
Rice (for koji)900 kg[KAWANO-1999]
Soybeans600 kgYellowish-white, glossy, medium-sized beans of one variety[KAWANO-1999]
Salt130 kg[KAWANO-1999]
Seed water130 kgAdded hot[KAWANO-1999]
Starch syrupAdded by some makers for sweetness and gloss[KAWANO-1999]
Starterkoji (Aspergillus oryzae) on polished rice

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.8 days – 16 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countAspergillus oryzaeLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Koji mould grows over the steamed rice

Step 1 of 5
Steam the rice and grow rice koji
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus oryzae
Lactic acid bacteria
Moulds

Rice that is too sticky clumps, and the clumps give a gritty, less sweet miso. Output: rice koji.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Edo ama-miso is Tokyo's sweet red miso. Soybeans are steamed under pressure and then held hot in the closed steamer for about 40 hours until they turn red-brown. They are packed warm with a large share of rice koji and little salt, and matured in a hot room for one to two weeks. Made in 5 steps over 8.8 days – 16 days. The longest step, mature in a hot room, takes 7–14 days (Kawano K 1999) and runs at 50 °C (Kawano K 1999). Salt is 5–6 % (Kawano K 1999). Aspergillus oryzae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–14 daysReported[KAWANO-1999]Mature in a hot room
Temperature50 °CReported[KAWANO-1999]Mature in a hot room
Salt5–6 %Reported[KAWANO-1999]Mix with koji, salt and hot water; pack warm

What makes this one different

Red like Sendai miso but sweet. The colour comes from holding the steamed beans hot for about 40 hours, and the sweetness from a high koji ratio (12–15), only 5–6 % salt and a hot, short maturing. The Aichi type table puts red sweet miso at koji 12–20, 5–7 % salt and 5–20 days [aichi-itc]. Kyoto white miso is made the same digestive way but keeps the beans pale.

Related ferments

Safety

With only 5–6 % salt it relies on the hot maturing and on being cooled and kept cool after maturing.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

A 2016 handout from Tokyo Seiei University says that after Tokugawa Ieyasu entered Edo in 1590 and began building the town, misos such as Sendai, Tsugaru and white miso arrived from other regions, and that Edo ama-miso arose by improvement among them and won favour with the people of Edo [tsc-edo]. Edo ama-miso was in wide demand for a long time. Making it stopped around the Second World War because of raw-material shortages, and after it restarted demand fell sharply; one maker's output in 1999 was still under 1 % of its peak [KAWANO-1999].

  1. [KAWANO-1999] Kawano K., Kishino Y. 1999, 米甘味噌 白甘味噌・江戸甘味噌 (sweet rice miso: white and Edo sweet miso), J. Brew. Soc. Japan 94(2):102–108, doi:10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1988.94.102 (the Edo ama-miso part by Kishino)paper
  2. [aichi-itc] Itō M., 日本の伝統的発酵調味料である味噌について (On miso), Aichi Center for Industry and Science Technology, Food News No. 16, p. 3; type table adapted from みそ技術ハンドブックgov
  3. [maff-dentou] MAFF (Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), 醤油、味噌、その他調味料 (soy sauce, miso and other seasonings), にっぽん伝統食図鑑gov
  4. [tsc-edo] 猪越絵理奈, 佐藤智茄, 藤形さえみ 2016, 江戸甘みそ (Edo ama-miso), student handout, Tokyo Seiei University, Department of Food Scienceweb