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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from Tokyo

Edo ama-miso (sweet red rice miso)江戸甘味噌

Edo ama-miso is Tokyo's sweet red miso. Steamed soybeans are held hot in the steamer for many hours until they turn red-brown, then packed warm with plenty of rice koji and little salt, and matured for one to two weeks. Made in 5 steps over 11 days – 16 days. The longest step, mature in a warm room, takes 9–14 days (Kawano K 1999) and runs at 50 °C (Kawano K 1999). Salt is 5–6 % (Kawano K 1999). Aspergillus oryzae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step9–14 daysReported[KAWANO-1999][JA-WIKI-江戸甘味噌][TSC-2016]Mature in a warm room
Temperature50 °CReported[KAWANO-1999]Mature in a warm room
Salt5–6 %Reported[KAWANO-1999]Mix with koji and salt; pack warm
DocumentedSoy and legumes11 days – 16 daysMore soy and legumesMore from Japan

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne factory batch from Kawano and Kishino 1999 (koji 15 bu). Recent lighter products use more koji and less salt.
900 kgRice (for koji)[KAWANO-1999]
600 kgSoybeans[KAWANO-1999]
130 kgSalt[KAWANO-1999]
130 kgWater[KAWANO-1999]
Starch syrup · Added by some makers[KAWANO-1999]
Starterkoji (Aspergillus oryzae) on polished rice

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 days – 16 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countAspergillus oryzae

What changes: Koji mould grows over the steamed rice

Step 1 of 5
Steam rice and grow rice koji
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus oryzae

Output: rice koji.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

What makes this one different

Red like Sendai miso but sweet: the colour comes from holding the steamed beans hot for many hours, the sweetness from a high koji share, low salt and a short warm maturation.

Related ferments

Safety

Low salt means a short life: it keeps only about 10 days in summer.

History and sources

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

Edo ama-miso was one of the three most popular misos in 17th-century Edo [SIC-miso2]. At its peak it was over 60 % of the miso eaten in Edo, and before the war half of Tokyo's demand. It was banned in the Second World War as wasteful of rice and came back in 1951; Tokyo named it a regional speciality in 2003 [JA-WIKI-江戸甘味噌].

  1. [KAWANO-1999] Kawano K., Kishino H. 1999, 米甘味噌 白甘味噌・江戸甘味噌 (sweet rice miso: white and Edo sweet miso), J. Brew. Soc. Japan 94(2):102–108, doi:10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1988.94.102paper
  2. [JA-WIKI-江戸甘味噌] Japanese Wikipedia, 江戸甘味噌wiki
  3. [TSC-2016] Tokyo Seiei College, 江戸甘みそ (Edo sweet miso) nutrition-education sheet, 2016web
  4. [JA-miso] Japanese Wikipedia, 味噌 (miso; type table of koji ratio, salt and ageing)wiki
  5. [SIC-miso2] Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Miso and Soybean Jiang, SoyInfo Centerbook