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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from Tokushima

Gozen miso (lightly sweet red rice miso)御膳味噌

Gozen miso is the lightly sweet red rice miso of Tokushima. It uses more koji than salty red miso, keeps the koji grains whole and floating, and ripens warm for 40–50 days before a cool rest. Made in 5 steps over 3.3 months – 3.6 months. The longest step, cool conditioning, takes 2 months (Fukunaga Y. 1974). Salt is 12 % (Fukunaga Y. 1974). Aspergillus oryzae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsReported[FUKUNAGA-1974][JA-WIKI-御膳味噌]Cool conditioning
Salt12 %Reported[FUKUNAGA-1974]Mix and pack
DocumentedSoy and legumes3.3 months – 3.6 monthsMore soy and legumes

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTraditional household recipe by volume (Fukunaga 1974), packed in the coldest season and aged about 300 days in small papered-over vats. The factory process below uses koji at 14 bu and 12 % salt.
1 to (about 18 L)Soybeans, steamed and skinned[FUKUNAGA-1974]
1 to 3 shō (about 23 L)White-rice koji[FUKUNAGA-1974]
3 shō (about 5.4 L); 3.3 shō to overwinterSalt[FUKUNAGA-1974]
1.5 shō (about 2.7 L)Glutinous rice, steamed as okowa[FUKUNAGA-1974]
Starterkoji (Aspergillus oryzae) on rice

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.3 months – 3.6 months

Start
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shapes, not to countAspergillus oryzae

What changes: Koji mould grows on whole rice grains that stay intact

Step 1 of 5
Grow floating rice koji (uki-kōji)
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus oryzae
Moulds

Uki-kōji keeps each koji grain whole so it shows in the finished miso. Output: whole-grain 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

Sweeter than salty red miso because it uses more koji (14 bu) and keeps the koji grains whole, yet its 12 % salt is close to salty miso.

Related ferments

Variants

  • White Gozen misoPaler form, colour about Y 30.

History and sources

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

  1. [FUKUNAGA-1974] Fukunaga Y. 1974, 味噌風土記 徳島 (miso of Tokushima), J. Brew. Soc. Japan 69(2):91–93, doi:10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1915.69.91paper
  2. [JA-WIKI-御膳味噌] Japanese Wikipedia, 御膳味噌wiki
  3. [JA-miso] Japanese Wikipedia, 味噌 (miso; type table of koji ratio, salt and ageing)wiki