About Miso

Title:
About Miso

Yield:
1 Servings

Categories:
Fat-Free




Ingredients:





     1    Text file






 The best resource on Miso that I know of is Shurtleff and Aoyagi's book


 _The Book of Miso_.  It's quite a complex subject.  The differences is miso


 can be attributed to a variet of factors, from the proportion of


 ingredients, cooking techniques, and duration and temperature of


 fermentation.  The redish color comes from long fermentation times (or in


 cheap imitations, from dyes).  The whiter misos are generally fermented for


 short times, and often made with rice in addition to soybeans. Reds are


 generally saltier and whites sweeter.


 


 Misos vary widely in fat content (like most soy products) and generally


 range from .25 to 1.5 gram of fat per tablespoon (and from about 6%CFF to


 over 30%CFF).  Some varieties, like peanut miso, obviously have even more


 fat.  Since it is rare that a dish has more than 1 T miso per serving, miso


 does not generally add appreciable fat to a dish. Many of the white sweet


 misos clock in at the low end (.25 grams per T, 6-10%CFF) so if you do want


 to use more miso, these kinds can be added liberally to a dish (and since


 their taste isn't as strong or salty, they do become many dishes in greater


 quantity).


 


 I find the dark, hearty misos make great gravy starters.  Add a bit of


 water/stock, some nutritional yeast, spices and a thickener to some miso


 and voila, instant delicious gravy.  A favorite miso-potato recipe follows.


 


 ~- Michelle Dick artemis@rahul.net


 


 On miso, you just have to try different kinds & brands.  There are numerous


 styles of miso.  Red misos tend to be more "savory" and white ones are


 usually more "sweet".  Country-style (Inaka) is made grainier on purpose.


 If served as a sauce on veggies, probably it's not straight miso but mixed


 w/sugar and some rice vinegar.  BTW a warning to vegetarians, some misos


 come "dashi-iri" which includes fish-based stock.  I think the ingredients


 label in English will mention fish, but not sure (since I can read the


 Japanese, I don't usually check the English), so check the ingredients


 carefully.  There is kombu-dashi (I even found some granulated packets)


 which is vegetarian, but most dashi is from bonito flakes (I guess it must


 be cheaper).


 


 Aiko P.


 From Fatfree Digest April-May 1994, Formatting by Sue Smith (using MMCONV)


 


 File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/fatfreex.zip