Miso – more than just a paste
Anyone in Japan more than a few days will – at some point – come across miso.
Often mistakenly dismissed as a simple paste form of crushed and fermented soy beans, miso has long held sway in so many areas of the Japanese dining scene.
Available in a simple soup; perhaps its most common form, with added ingredients often dictated by the seasons and / or location in the archipelago, miso first arrived in Japan around the same time as Buddhism and by the same route – by way of mainland China – sometime in the 6th century AD.
Calorie free, and jam packed full of protein, the three main types of miso popular in Japan today are the soybean form, a type made of rice (actually the most common) and another form especially popular down in Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu where barley forms the base ingredient; not an unpopular local item as it is also used in the production of shochu liquor – although that does come with more than a few calories.
Today miso, is a regional specialty with various forms, light and dark, a range of tastes and varying levels of spiciness (Nagoya is well known for spicy miso) as well as as a soup served with any and all Japanese style meals day or night. It is also popular as a dip for sliced vegetables in izakaya Japanese style pubs and family restaurants, spread on various grilled morsels, and even as a form of beauty treatment in women’s facials.
Caption – Just a few of the miso options in a Tokyo supermarket
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