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Soy and legumes from Japan, Hiroshima

Fuchū miso (Hiroshima white sweet miso)府中味噌

Fuchū miso is the sweet white rice miso of Fuchū in Hiroshima, one of the three representative white sweet misos with Saikyō and Sanuki. Like other white sweet misos it uses a lot of rice koji and little salt and ripens in days to a few weeks, so it stays pale and sweet.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes5 days – 20 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo published Fuchū recipe. The amounts are the range for the white sweet rice miso class, a table that lists Hiroshima among its regions (Aichi ITC, adapted from the Miso Technology Handbook).
Soybeans, dehulled[AICHI-ITC]
Rice koji1.5–3.0 times the soybean weight (white sweet class)Hiroshima white miso uses plenty of rice koji[AICHI-ITC][TSC-2017]
Salt5–7% of the miso (white sweet class)[AICHI-ITC]
Starterrice koji

Total time across the recorded steps: 5 days – 20 days

Start
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What changes: Fuchū makers choose and treat beans, rice and salt carefully because the brewing is short

Step 1 of 4
Choose the beans, rice and salt with care
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

Japanese Wikipedia, citing Dōmoto 1974, says the white-eyed soybeans came from northern Hiroshima, the rice from the Kamiya and Ashida river basins and the salt from the Fukatsu district, and that the short brewing makes careful selection and treatment of the raw materials important. Output: selected soybeans, rice and salt.

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

At a glance

Fuchū miso is the sweet white rice miso of Fuchū in Hiroshima, one of the three representative white sweet misos with Saikyō and Sanuki. Like other white sweet misos it uses a lot of rice koji and little salt and ripens in days to a few weeks, so it stays pale and sweet. Made in 4 steps over 5 days – 20 days. The longest step, ripen briefly while the koji sweetens the mash, takes 5–20 days (Itō Masako). Salt is 5–7 % (Itō Masako). Koji mould on rice (rice koji), whose amylase turns starch to sugar does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–20 daysReported[AICHI-ITC]Ripen briefly while the koji sweetens the mash
Salt5–7 %Reported[AICHI-ITC]Mix with plenty of rice koji and little salt

What makes this one different

Unlike the salty red rice misos, it uses much more koji and about half the salt (5–7% against 11–13%), and ripens in days, not months.

Related ferments

Safety

Salty misos (about 12%) have enough salt to stop unwanted microbes during long ripening; white sweet miso, at 5–7%, relies on its short ripening instead.

History and sources

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

Tradition says Ōto Kyūzaburō first made it in the Tenna era (1681–84); it was presented to the Fukuyama lord, who gave it to the shogun [JA-WIKI-府中味噌]. A 2016 Fuchū city newsletter feature calls it a miso with 400 years of history [FUCHU-CITY].

  1. [AICHI-ITC] Itō Masako, 日本の伝統的発酵調味料である味噌について, あいち産業科学技術総合センター 食品ニュース No.16, p.3 (table of the main miso classes adapted from みそ技術ハンドブック)gov
  2. [KAWANO-1999] Kawano K., Kishino Y. 1999, 米甘味噌 白甘味噌・江戸甘味噌, 日本醸造協会誌 94(2):102–108 (abstract, which names Saikyō, Fuchū and Sanuki as the representative white sweet misos)paper
  3. [TSC-2017] Tokyo Seiei College, 日本各地のいろいろな味噌 (student nutrition sheet), 2017web
  4. [JA-WIKI-府中味噌] Japanese Wikipedia, 府中味噌wiki
  5. [FUCHU-CITY] Fuchū City (Hiroshima), 広報ふちゅう No. 1216, pp. 12–13, 400年の歴史!府中味噌, 2016gov