As I have been preparing to make my first big batch of miso it occurred to me that it might be helpful to share my own notes, distilled from a number of sources. I am focusing on the longer fermented style known as akamiso (赤味噌), sendai miso, or simply red miso.
The Book of Miso (hereinafter ‘BoM’) by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi has proven an excellent resource and is a highly recommended read on this topic. Additionally I’ve learned a lot from Jeremy Umansky’s recent book Koji Alchemy and Sandor Katz’s The Art of Fermentation, both of which cite BoM as a reference with Katz calling it ‘the definitive English-languge guide’. One area in which I find it dated is the way in which it expresses its recipes sometimes in imperial units while other times using additive ratios, and often scattering information across a few places. I have done some unit conversions and compiled formulas from a few different spots to create the tables below. My goal is to have a way to compare formulas meaningfully and also to be able to target arbitrary batch sizes.
Red Miso - bakers’ percentages
| Variation | Soybeans (dry) | Koji (dry) | Koji (fresh) | Salt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BoM fig. 31 | 100 | 85 | 96.9 | 44 |
| Sendai Miso-shoyu Co. (1y) | 100 | 58 | 66.12 | 45 |
| Mr. Junsei Yamazaki (1y) | 100 | 100 | 114 | 25 |
| Mr. Junsei Yamazaki (2y) | 100 | 100 | 114 | 35 |
| Mr. Herman Aihara (8m) | 100 | 100 | 114 | 30 |
| BoM other common A | 100 | 64 | 72.96 | 53 |
| BoM other common B | 100 | 50 | 57 | 41 |
| BoM other common C | 100 | 72 | 82.08 | 49 |
Red Miso - fractional proportions
| Red Miso Variation | Soybeans (dry) | Koji (dry) | Salt |
|---|---|---|---|
| BoM fig. 31 | 43.67% | 37.11% | 19.21% |
| Sendai Miso-shoyu Co. (1y) | 49.26% | 28.57% | 22.17% |
| Mr. Junsei Yamazaki (1y) | 44.44% | 44.44% | 11.11% |
| Mr. Junsei Yamazaki (2y) | 42.55% | 42.55% | 14.89% |
| Mr. Herman Aihara (8 month) | 43.48% | 43.48% | 13.04% |
| BoM other common A | 46.08% | 29.49% | 24.42% |
| BoM other common B | 52.36% | 26.18% | 21.46% |
| BoM other common C | 45.25% | 32.58% | 22.17% |
Arbitrary Batch Sizing
Targeting a batch size that isn’t called out specifically is something that was not obvious to me at first. Most sources are fairly loose on this but I will try to extrapolate from BoM data.
Using only the example batch sizes (in metric units) for the Fig. 31 BoM ‘Red Miso’:
| Soybeans (dry) | Koji (dry) | Salt | Final Volume | Soybean grams / final mix liters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 368.54g | 314.68g | 161.59g | 1.89L | 194.99 |
| 1474.18g | 1247.38g | 649.20g | 7.57L | 194.73 |
| 5896.7g | 5017.87g | 2608.16g | 30.28L | 194.73 |
From the other formulas in that same figure, they do not appear to take into account varying proportions of ingredients other than soy, i.e. we can use the bakers’ percentages charts with soybeans as the root ingredient.
My rough math for targeting a batch size will be to assume 195g of dry soybeans per liter final miso and then build the recipe using bakers’ percentages. The next batch will be a good test of this theory and whether it is good enough to use as a rule of thumb.
Seed Miso
Seed miso is suggested as a way to introduce useful elements to one’s first batch of homemade. GEM Cultures does offer seed miso but the required refrigerated shipping makes this expensive and places it on a different shipping schedule than their spores. Miso Master appears to be widely available and is an unpasteurized organic miso of good reputation. It is what I will be using as I’m able to get it delivered from local sources. I sat down with the tub of Miso Master that I received last night and tasted it against the imported Japanese miso I already had on hand (Hikari ‘Maru-Yu’ Mutenka Yuki) and am pleased with this choice.
Lids
In Koji Alchemy a method is outlined where you create a pressing lid by vacuum sealing salt in-situ and this seems like it will be a good option. I’ve found wooden lids being sold by Quercus Cooperage, as well as a few Japanese style drop lids that will probably work, but neither option is exactly the right size for my Ohio Stoneware crocks. In a video recording of one of his workshops Sandor Katz says to use the biggest plate you have that will work as a follower but I recently trimmed my dinnerware collection down so I do not have any that I’m willing to give up for the next 12-24 months and it seems silly to spend north of $15 to solve this problem. I grabbed some $2 plates from the Japanese market that lined up with my crocks’ measured internal diameters, only to discover that the crocks are 3-5mm out of circular. I will plan on proceeding with the vacuum bagged salt.
