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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from Tōhoku, Kantō-Kōshin'etsu, Hokkaido

Sendai miso (salty red rice miso)仙台味噌

Sendai miso is the salty red rice miso of Miyagi. It uses little koji, deeply steamed soybeans and a hard-tamped mash that is turned several times and needs about a year to reach full flavour. Made in 6 steps over 3 months – 16 months. The longest step, cool post-ripening, takes 30 days – 12 months (Matsumoto I 1998) and runs at 10–15 °C (Matsumoto I 1998). Salt is 21.5 % (Matsumoto I 1998). Aspergillus oryzae and Added lactic acid bacteria and yeast do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 days – 12 monthsSet[MATSUMOTO-1998]Cool post-ripening
Temperature10–15 °CSet[MATSUMOTO-1998]Cool post-ripening
Salt21.5 %Set[MATSUMOTO-1998]Cool the beans; mix with salted koji and seed water
DocumentedSoy and legumes3 months – 16 monthsMore soy and legumesMore from Japan

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceProportions from the traditional Tōhoku method and the 1965 unified Sendai miso standard (revised 1968 and 1988), as described by Matsumoto and Kumai 1998.
At most about 0.5 times the soybean weightRice koji (by raw rice) · Rarely more than 5 bu; aged (rōjuku) koji preferred[MATSUMOTO-1998]
Rarely less than 40 % of the soybean weightSalt[MATSUMOTO-1998]
About 10 % of the soybean volumeSeed water, a 12–13 % brine[MATSUMOTO-1998]
Starterkoji (Aspergillus oryzae) on rice; lactic bacteria and yeast may be added instead of seed miso

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 months – 16 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countAspergillus oryzaeLactic acid bacteriaYeasts

What changes: Koji mould grows over the steamed rice until well aged

Step 1 of 6
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
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Well-aged (rōjuku) koji is preferred. 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

Little koji and a lot of salt: it ripens slowly, needs about a year, and turns deep red from long-steamed beans. Turning the mash several times is part of the standard.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Reduced-salt trial (Miyagi institute)A research trial, not a tradition: 9 % salt, 46–47 % moisture, rice koji at 80 % of the soybean weight (0.8 times).

History and sources

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

The story that Date Masamune made it for the 1593 Korea campaign is doubted: his seat was then at Iwadeyama, and "Sendai" was named in 1600. The documented start is Makabe-ya Ichibei's "Sendai miso" signboard of 1626. The domain's Edo mansion brewed the same miso and sold its surplus in Edo. Sendai miso became a regional collective trademark in 2007 [JA-WIKI-仙台味噌, MAFF-TF-sendaimiso].

  1. [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
  2. [JA-WIKI-仙台味噌] Japanese Wikipedia, 仙台味噌wiki
  3. [MAFF-TF-sendaimiso] MAFF, にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Japan's traditional foods), 仙台味噌 (Sendai miso)gov
  4. [JA-miso] Japanese Wikipedia, 味噌 (miso; type table of koji ratio, salt and ageing)wiki
  5. [WP-Miso] English Wikipedia, Misowiki