This Month’s Film: The Twilight Samurai
Cuisine: Japanese

This passage is excerpted from The Sushi Book

Miso soup is a light, savory broth typically served before a Japanese meal. Traditional miso begins with a seaweed stock called dashi, made from boiling konbu kelp and dried flakes of katsuo made from bonito, a type of large, flavorful ocean fish. The konbu and katsuo are filtered out, leaving a light, delicate broth, to which tiny flakes of dried wakame seaweed, small cubes of firm tofu, and a soybean paste called miso are added.

Miso is a fermented soybean paste widely used in traditional Japanese cuisine. There are two basic varieties of miso: white, and red; although the color of some other varieties of miso falls somewhere in between.

Miso is made by mixing steamed or boiled soybeans with salt and an Aspergillus fermenting agent called koji. Each region has its own unique style and flavor of miso. And although it is readily available at all Japanese markets, many Japanese housewives still make their own miso.

Miso was first introduced to Japan from China in the eighth century, and its consumption was originally considered a luxury and was therefore limited to members of the ruling class, and to Buddhist monks as a valuable protein supplement to their vegetarian diet. However, by the Muromachi Period (1392-1573), its popularity as a daily staple had spread to the common folk.

Commercial production of miso began in the 17th century, and each region developed its own unique miso, according to the available ingredients, the ecosystem, and the tastes of the local population. Shiromiso is favored in Kyoto, hatchomiso is the preferred style in Aichi Prefecture, and shinshu miso, the most widely consumed variety of miso, originated in Nagano Prefecture.

The average Japanese citizen consumes nearly 5 kilograms of miso each year, and to keep up with the demand, approximately 1,400 Japanese miso companies produce more than a half million tons of miso annually.

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