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Soy and legumes from Japan — Fukui

Hamana miso (Fukui winter koji relish with eggplant)はまなみそ

Hamana miso is a chunky winter relish from Fukui. Bean koji, made from steamed soybeans and roasted cracked wheat or barley, is mixed with sweet rice-koji amazake, soy sauce and desalted salted eggplant with shiso seed and ginger, then stirred daily for about 20 days. Commercial makers ferment the bean koji in brine into a moromi first.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes20 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA home recipe for about 4 kg from MAFF's regional-dish database, adapted from "Rediscover Fukui food". Recipes differ by area and household.
Rice koji and bean koji1 shōListed together in the recipe; the bean koji is steamed soybeans with roasted cracked wheat or naked barley, grown with koji mould[MAFF-KR-hamana][FUKUI-STD]
Hot water4 gō[MAFF-KR-hamana]
Soy sauce5 gō[MAFF-KR-hamana]
Salted eggplant1 kgCut bite-size and soaked until only a little salt is left[MAFF-KR-hamana]
Salted shiso seeds1 cupWashed[MAFF-KR-hamana]
Ginger, minced2 tbsp[MAFF-KR-hamana]
White sesame, toasted3 tbsp[MAFF-KR-hamana]
ChilliA little[MAFF-KR-hamana]
Starterkoji mould (bean koji and rice koji)

Total time across the recorded steps: 20 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countMoulds70 °CProteinAmino acids

What changes: Rice koji in hot water turns sweet as its enzymes break the starch into sugar

Step 1 of 6
Make sweet amazake from rice koji
Time
5–6 h
Reported
Temperature
70 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

Output: amazake.

Flavour
sweet
Texture
porridge
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

koji amylase turns the rice starch into sugar

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

Hamana miso is a chunky winter relish from Fukui. Bean koji, made from steamed soybeans and roasted cracked wheat or barley, is mixed with sweet rice-koji amazake, soy sauce and desalted salted eggplant with shiso seed and ginger, then stirred daily for about 20 days. Commercial makers ferment the bean koji in brine into a moromi first. Made in 6 steps over 20 days. The longest step, combine, weight lightly and stir daily, takes 20 days (MAFF). Koji mould (こうじ菌) grown on the soybeans and wheat or barley; the standard does not name the species does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step20 daysReported[MAFF-KR-hamana]Combine, weight lightly and stir daily
Temperature70 °CReported[MAFF-KR-hamana]Make sweet amazake from rice koji

What makes this one different

Hamana miso is not a ripened miso paste but a relish. It is built on bean koji made with roasted wheat or barley, sweetened with rice-koji amazake and mixed with salted eggplant, so it is closer to kinzanji miso than to soup miso.

Related ferments

Safety

The prefectural standard requires sealed packs and gives storage at 15 °C or below in its label example. The home method simmers the amazake to stop it souring.

History and sources

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

Tokugawa Ieyasu is said to have liked Hamamatsu's hama-nattō, and his second son Yūki Hideyasu brought Hamamatsu food culture to Echizen after Sekigahara. There it became a winter food suited to Fukui, once served at New Year greeting rounds [MAFF-KR-hamana, MAFF-TF-hamana]. Ōno city's recipe page says Ieyasu devised hama-nattō as a wartime food and that Hideyasu spread it through Echizen [ONO-CITY]. The origin of the name is disputed; the hama-nattō story is the leading one [MAFF-TF-hamana].

  1. [MAFF-KR-hamana] MAFF, うちの郷土料理 (our regional dishes), はまなみそ 福井県 (hamana miso, Fukui), recipe adapted from 「再発見!福井の食」gov
  2. [FUKUI-STD] Fukui Prefecture, はまなみその認証基準 (certification standard for hamana miso, "Gensen Fukui no aji")spec
  3. [MAFF-TF-hamana] MAFF, にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Illustrated guide to Japan's traditional foods), はまなみそ 福井県 (hamana miso, Fukui)gov
  4. [ONO-CITY] Ōno City, 大野ならではの食材を使ったメニューをご紹介~はまなみそ~ (menus made with Ōno ingredients, hamana miso)gov