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Soy and legumes from Kinki

Kansai shiro miso (sweet white rice miso); Saikyo miso is the Kyoto premium example白味噌

Kansai white miso uses about twice as much rice koji as soybeans and only 5–7 % salt. Dehulled, boiled beans are packed hot with the koji, held warm for 8–10 hours while the koji enzymes turn starch into sugar, then rested one to two weeks. It is sweet, cream-coloured and short-lived.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes7.4 days – 15 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceStandard proportions from the brewing literature (koji ratio 20, salt 5–7 %); no fixed batch size is given. Factories pack about 100 kg lots in small lidded plastic or steel tubs so the mash stays hot.
Rice for koji, by raw rice weightAbout 2 parts (koji ratio 20; the type range is 15–30)Polished to 83–85 %; grown into a young, white koji[KAWANO-1999][DOMOTO-1989][aichi-itc]
Dehulled soybeans1 part[KAWANO-1999]
Salt5–7 % of the miso (usually 6–7 %)[KAWANO-1999][DOMOTO-1989]
Starterrice koji (米麹; Aspergillus oryzae), made by adding koji mould to washed, soaked and steamed polished rice

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.4 days – 15 days

Start
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shapes, not to countMoulds

What changes: Koji mould grows over the steamed rice and is taken out young and white

Step 1 of 6
Steam rice and grow a young rice koji
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts
Aspergillus oryzae

Rice is polished to 83–85 %. A koji strain chosen for sugar-making power is used. Output: young white rice koji.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

a koji strain with strong amylase and little browning is used; the koji is taken out young and white, with the late stage of koji making run warm

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

Kansai white miso uses about twice as much rice koji as soybeans and only 5–7 % salt. Dehulled, boiled beans are packed hot with the koji, held warm for 8–10 hours while the koji enzymes turn starch into sugar, then rested one to two weeks. It is sweet, cream-coloured and short-lived. Made in 6 steps over 7.4 days – 15 days. The longest step, rest at room temperature, takes 7–14 days (Kawano K 1999). Salt is 5–7 % (Kawano K 1999). Aspergillus oryzae, the koji mould on rice does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–14 daysReported[KAWANO-1999][MAFF-TF-siromiso]Rest at room temperature
Temperature50–60 °CReported[KAWANO-1999]Warm digestion
Salt5–7 %Reported[KAWANO-1999][DOMOTO-1989]Mix hot with salted koji and pack

What makes this one different

Far more koji and far less salt than salty rice miso, and no long ripening: hours of warm enzyme digestion and a rest of days give a sweet, pale miso instead of a salty, aged one. The Aichi type table gives white sweet miso koji 15–30, salt 5–7 % and 5–20 days, against koji 5–10 and salt 11–13 % for Sendai or Shinshu miso [aichi-itc].

Related ferments

Variants

  • Saikyō miso (Kyoto)The Kyoto white miso; Kyoto white miso was named a "100-year food" by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2022 [MAFF-TF-siromiso].

Safety

With only 5–7 % salt and no heat treatment after packing, white miso is open to stray microbes, so makers keep plant and tools strictly clean [KAWANO-1999]. In one study commercial white miso at 30 °C browned enough to lose its value in about 10 days and was soft and sticky by 45 days, while at 10 °C it was still fine after 180 days. Keep it cold.

History and sources

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

MAFF says white miso began in Kyoto and was eaten from the Heian period, first by nobles because rice was precious. Through the Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama periods it became a staple of tea-ceremony and kaiseki cooking [MAFF-TF-siromiso].

  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/jbrewsocjapan1988.94.102paper
  2. [DOMOTO-1989] Dōmoto Y. 1989, 味噌の地域特性 —西日本編— (regional features of miso, western Japan), J. Brew. Soc. Japan 84(2):76–82, doi:10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1988.84.76paper
  3. [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
  4. [MAFF-TF-siromiso] MAFF, にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Japan's traditional foods), 白味噌 (white miso)gov