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Homemade Miso Making Chronicle – 6 Month Fermentation Update

June 7, 2016 By admin 3 Comments

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homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update
I made my very own homemade miso for the first time in November of last year. It ended up being quite a labor intensive process since I made about 40 pounds worth!! I brought back a giant cedar miso making bucket from Japan for it, and I was determined to fill it up! You can read all about my miso making adventure here. As it sits fermenting, I still have no idea how I am going to eat it all. Especially since I made homemade chic pea miso a couple month later! I’m going to have to go on a miso giveaway frenzy amongst my friends and colleagues, and even then, I will probably have more miso than I can handle. Although, that’s not necessarily too bad of a thing. I can use it in cooking more generously than ever before. Yay!

Now that I jibber jabbered enough about miso making, I wanted to do a 6 month update on the fermentation process. I hadn’t opened the cedar barrel at all since 11/27/2015 so I was quite excited to see what was happening. Why a 6 month update? Well, traditionally miso is opened up after about 6 months to mix it from the bottom up. This process is called “Tenchigaeshi” which literally means flipping upside down. This promotes even fermentation by mixing and aerating the miso. To flip, you would take the miso out of your fermentation container and place it into a separate, sterilized container. Then you would wash and wipe the original container with some vodka to sterilize it again. Next, you would put the miso back and seal it off all with the same method you used when you made it originally. You can view the original thread here.  

homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update
However, after all that explanation of the “Tenchigaeshi” step, I’m not going to do it. Why? Because according to a Japanese miso maker, for homemade miso, the containers you are using are small enough that it’s not even necessary. The Tenchigaeshi is mainly for miso makers who use enormous barrels. So you can certainly flip it if you’d like, but it’s apparently an unnecessary step and I’m not going to bother. What can I say? I can be lazy sometimes, especially when a pro miso maker tells me I can be.

Don’t worry, I still want to see what is happening under the covers, so I will show you how the miso currently looks. First, I checked the miso that I put in mason jars. They both had crystalized salt and tamari that had ran down the sides. If you remember, these jars were not completely sealed to let them breathe and avoid bursting from the fermentation gas building up. As miso ferments, a dark umber liquid rises up, usually pooling at the top. This is tamari. You can see why tamari is gluten free because it’s just a byproduct of miso which usually doesn’t contain any gluten, except for barley miso that is. My mason jars were so packed to not let any air have contact with the miso, that the tamari had risen up and mixed with the surface salt. Then it ran down the sides and crystallized. I wiped the jars clean with vodka, and decided not to open these, as their surfaces are packed really nicely and I can’t see any mold forming inside. So on to the miso barrel! 

homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update
The miso barrel was just how I left it last. Clean, with no leakage whatsoever. I took off the paper dust cover and then the cedar wooden lids. The bright white salt bags, which were used as weights greeted me. 

homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update
If you don’t seal the miso 100% when you make it initially, it contributes to molding on the surface. But molding is quite common with miso making. It happens all the time, so it’s not the end of the world at all. If you see white mold, it is actually yeast so you can just mix it in. But if you see blue or red mold, all you have to do is scoop out the mold and a generous portion of the surrounding area and throw it out. The rest of the miso is totally fine to keep fermenting.

Now even though I know mold in miso is very common and not an issue at all, I still wanted my miso to be perfect and mold free. I was curious if my kelp lid actually worked. I took out the salt bags. No mold spilling out of the edges. You can see the salt on the edges turned brown and hardened from mixing with the tamari. So far so good.

homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update
The moment of truth. I peeled off the kelp halfway and dug through the salt layer. No mold period! Hurray! The kelp and salt bag sealing technique worked! There was no pool of tamari yet, but I can see where it had absorbed in the salt layer. 

homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update
You can see that the color has deepened from when it was made. Those little light colored pieces in the miso are the koji. I wanted to know why there are so many pieces left still so I looked it up. Apparently, if you use brown rice koji, which I did, the little koji pieces tend to remain and not dissolve into the miso. So you have to use a small strainer when melting miso into miso soup if you don’t want the bits in there. Maybe I will put it through the food processor or a food mill to see if it breaks down nice and smooth once the miso is ready.

Time for the 6 month taste test!. It’s a beautiful rich full bodied miso flavor. Even though it is only half way through the fermentation stages, it’s already a very good miso. I’m looking down at my barrel thinking “Man, that is a lot of miso!” Since I have so much, I might start using the mason jar miso now. That way I will be able to tell the difference between the 6 month and 1 year old flavor profile later. 

homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update
Well, I must say, I’m very happy with the progress. No mold made me happy. The kelp lid rocked! I’m going to cover it back up again and open it up in another 6 months. It will be even deeper and richer in color, perfectly auburn and ready! Can’t wait!! 

homemade miso making chronicle 6 month fermentation update

Filed Under: Homemade Miso Making Posts

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Comments

  1. Cassie

    June 8, 2016 at 12:58 am

    This sounds weird, but I never knew that you could eat miso on a raw vegan lifestyle! I guess I thought there was some type of heated sauce in miso XD but anyhow, I love the flavor miso lends! I love using it for Asian recipes such as curries and soups!

    Reply
    • admin

      June 8, 2016 at 12:47 pm

      Hi Cassie,

      Miso is made from cooked soy beans and fermented cooked rice, but once the miso ferments, it contains loads of probiotics so a lot of times it’s considered a living food in raw foods. When you use it in raw foods, you won’t heat up the miso high and kill off the probiotics. But even when cooking miso soup the traditional Japanese way, you are never supposed to boil over the miso. You turn off the heat once everything is cooked in dashi + water, and melt in the miso at the very end. It’s interesting that they figured that out eons ago without any scientific research.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Miso Making Chronicle – 1 year later and finally done! says:
    November 30, 2016 at 3:23 am

    […] hover over it with curiosity for the first few weeks, but then slowly started to forget about it. When the 6 month mark hit and I opened it up for a check up, I knew another 6 month was going to fly by. Then came Halloween, and Thanksgiving, black Friday. […]

    Reply

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Mariko Sakata

Hi, I'm Mariko! I am a raw food chef, instructor, and a cookbook author. Plant-based cooking is my passion. My creations are plant-based, mostly raw, and gluten free.
Hope you enjoy my recipes! Check out my About page to find out more about me.

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marikosakata

Ying and Yang☯️ My utmost respect to Stacey A Ying and Yang☯️ 
My utmost respect to Stacey Abrams. The word “inspirational” does not quite cut it.
Testing a couple of vegan cheeses🌱🧀 We’ll Testing a couple of vegan cheeses🌱🧀 We’ll see how they turn out🧐
Hope everyone had a lovely holiday season😊

新しいヴィーガンチーズを研究中✨さて仕上がりはどうなるかな?

ヴィーガンチーズのオンラインオンデマンドクラスにご興味のある方はプロフィールのリンクからどうぞ🙇🏻‍♀️
Getting ready to cook some gluten free 100% buckwh Getting ready to cook some gluten free 100% buckwheat soba for New Year’s Eve🍜 It’s a Japanese tradition to eat soba on New Year’s Eve for good fortune and longevity for the coming new year. Probably one of my favorite traditions, because it gives me another excuse to eat noodles🍜💕 I’ll have my bowl of soba to wish everyone good fortune and longevity🙏🏼✨
Happy New Year’s Eve! 

アメリカはまだ大晦日なので、年越しこれから年越し蕎麦を🍜少し自宅から遠い日系マーケットに行く機会がコロナで今年激減したので、大事にとっておいた十割蕎麦を年越し蕎麦に✨

日本の皆様、明けましておめでとうございます🎍2020年はコロナで未曾有の一年で、日本にも一時帰国できませんでしたが、その分オンラインクラスやオンデマンドクラスを通して皆様にお会いでき、又お陰様で増版、台湾語と韓国語版も出版され、実りも大変多い一年でした。昨年は大変お世話になりました。本年も何卒宜しくお願い申し上げます🙇🏻‍♀️
Uplifting a gloomy Monday with this plate of raw v Uplifting a gloomy Monday with this plate of raw vegan cheddar cheese🌱🧀 Hope everyone in LA us staying dry🌧

ロサンゼルスには珍しく今日は一日中雨🌧熟成していた太陽のようなローフードヴィーガンチェダーチーズをおやつに気分転換🌱🧀
Enjoying some post Christmas treats and probably g Enjoying some post Christmas treats and probably going to pass out from sugar crash🎄😝

クリスマスツリーのライスクリスピートリーツ(スピルリナ入り)🎄来年は抹茶味で緑色にしたいけれど、夫が抹茶味あまり好きではないので、レシピ2倍でプレーンと両方作らないといけないかな?
Merry Christmas everyone💚 I made some minty ric Merry Christmas everyone💚 I made some minty rice crispy treats this year, and this may very well become one of our yearly tradition🎄Tastes like crunchy York peppermint patties💕 Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas✨

ミント味のライスクリスピートリーツ💚ライスクリスピートリーツは幼少の頃にニューヨークで出来立てを食べて以来大好きなお菓子ですが、高カロリーなので特別な日にしか作りません😅今年はミント味にアレンジしてみたら、これまた美味し過ぎて毎年恒例になりそうです✨
When we decorated our tree earlier this week, we w When we decorated our tree earlier this week, we were a bit short on ornaments, but we were able to get extras just in time🎄✨ Listening to Mariah, my QUEEN and tree trimming now❄️ Merry Christmas and happy holidays everone✨

クリスマスツリーの飾りが先日少し足りなかったので、オーダーした追加の飾りがギリギリイブの今日届きました❄️毎年恒例のマライヤ・キャリーやマイケル・ブーブレを聴きながらツリーの飾り付け🎄皆様素敵なクリスマスをお過ごしください✨
Testing out my Waring blender for vegan cheese mak Testing out my Waring blender for vegan cheese making😊 Not gonna lie, it’s no Vitamix, but it does a good job👍🏼

最近お気に入りの普通のミキサーで試しにヴィーガンチーズ作り🌱🧀勿論バイタミックスには負けますが、なかなかの出来👌🏼
The homemade ornaments we made yesterday worked ou The homemade ornaments we made yesterday worked out great on our newly delivered white Christmas tree🎄Orion’s ornament hanging above my husband’s favorite ornament from his childhood, a vintage snoopy ornament circa 1981. I love the look of this vintage Hallmark panorama ball ornament. I may need to add some more from eBay. Happy holidays everyone❄️

昨日作った手作りオーナメントを白いクリスマスツリーに飾り付け🎄夫の幼少の頃のお気に入りのスヌーピーオーナメントと一緒に❄️1981年の物でヴィンテージのホールマークのオーナメントなんですが、中がダイオラマになっていて、ストーリー性があって面白いんです✨これから毎年一つ、他のバージョンを足していこうと思います😊
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