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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from Japan — Niigata

Echigo miso (uki-kōji miso, "floating-koji miso")越後味噌

red karakuchi rice miso with visible floating koji shells; [TSC-2017] gives salt ~11 % for current products. Made in 5 steps over 52 days – 2 months. The longest step, ferment and ripen, takes 50 days – 2 months (Matsumoto I 1998). Salt is 12.5 % (Japanese Wikipedia). Aspergillus oryzae and yeast do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step50 days – 2 monthsSourced[MATSUMOTO-1998]Ferment and ripen
Temperature30 °C → 34 °CTypicalSteam rice and make koji
Salt12.5 %Sourced[JA-WIKI-越後味噌][MATSUMOTO-1998]Mix (soy:koji 5:4) and pack
DocumentedSoy and legumes52 days – 2 monthsMore soy and legumesMore from Japan

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
domestic soybeans
whole (unbroken) polished rice
salt
Starter: koji/qu/mold-starter (tray or full-bed koji; no forced-air machine koji in the traditional method)

Total time across the recorded steps: 52 days – 2 months

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a bean

What changes: Whole polished rice is washed and soaks

Step 1 of 5
Select, polish, wash and soak rice
Time
3 h
Sourced
Temperature
ambient
Unconfirmed
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus oryzae
Yeasts
Moulds
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: soaked whole rice (broken rice not used).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

none

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

Variants

  • Jōetsu (Takada) typekoji 9–10 bu (rice 0.9–1.0 times the soybeans), soybeans boiled (not steamed), paler red so koji floats show more [NIIGATA-1973, JA-WIKI-越後味噌]
  • Kaetsu / Niigata-city typekoji 5.5–7.0 bu (rice 0.55–0.7 times the soybeans; 1973, rising), soybeans steamed, vivid red; Y 10–12 % for Kantō buyers, 14–16 % for Tōhoku/local [NIIGATA-1973]
  • Ōgon miso (Meiji)premium Meiji miso at koji 12 bu (rice 1.2 times the soybeans), yamabuki (golden) colour [NIIGATA-1973]; soy:koji 5:6 [JA-WIKI-越後味噌]
  • Niigata farmhouse miso (1973 survey)miso-dama made in some districts; ~60 % of households used soybean cooking water as seed water; packed March–April and aged on average ~2 years 2 months [NIIGATA-1973]

Safety

uneven salt causes souring

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Legend credits Uesugi Kenshin's troops (1564) with learning miso making in Noda; Jōshūya of Nagaoka moved from Kōzuke in 1618; shipped to Kamchatka, Kurils and Hokkaido until ~1944; 22,823 t in 1971; 5 of 8 top red-karakuchi awards in the 1972 national show [JA-WIKI-越後味噌].

  1. [JA-WIKI-越後味噌] Japanese Wikipedia, 越後味噌wiki
  2. [MATSUMOTO-1998] Matsumoto I., Kumai K. 1998, 赤色辛口味噌 越後味噌・仙台味噌 (red salty miso: Echigo and Sendai miso), J. Brew. Soc. Japan 93(12):932–941, doi:10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1988.93.932paper
  3. [NIIGATA-1973] 編集部 1973. 新潟 越後味噌と佐渡味噌. 日本醸造協會雜誌 68(3):175–180. doi:10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1915.68.175paper
  4. [TSC-2017] Tokyo Seiei College, 日本各地のいろいろな味噌 (student nutrition sheet), 2017web