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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from Kinki, Chūgoku, Setouchi

Kansai shiro miso (sweet white rice miso); Saikyo miso is the Kyoto premium example白味噌

Kansai white miso uses about twice as much rice koji as soybeans and only 5–7 % salt. Dehulled, boiled beans are packed hot with the koji, held warm for 8–10 hours while the koji turns starch into sugar, then rested one to two weeks. It is sweet, cream-coloured and short-lived. Made in 6 steps over 7.4 days – 15 days. The longest step, rest at room temperature, takes 7–14 days (Kawano K 1999). Salt is 5–7 % (Kawano K 1999). Aspergillus oryzae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7–14 daysReported[KAWANO-1999][MAFF-TF-siromiso]Rest at room temperature
Temperature50–60 °CReported[KAWANO-1999]Mix with koji and salt; pack hot
Salt5–7 %Reported[KAWANO-1999][DOMOTO-1989]Mix with koji and salt; pack hot
DocumentedSoy and legumes7.4 days – 15 daysMore soy and legumesMore from Japan

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceProportions from the brewing literature; no fixed batch size is given.
About 2 parts (1.5–3 parts)Rice koji, by raw rice weight · Standard 20 bu, range 15–30 bu[KAWANO-1999][DOMOTO-1989]
1 partDehulled soybeans[KAWANO-1999]
5–7 % of the miso (usually 6–7 %)Salt[KAWANO-1999][DOMOTO-1989]
Starterkoji (Aspergillus oryzae) on polished rice

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.4 days – 15 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 6
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
Moulds
Yeasts

Output: rice koji.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Aspergillus oryzae makes amylases and proteases

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

Far more koji and far less salt than salty rice miso, and no long ripening: hours of warm enzyme digestion and a rest of days give a sweet, pale miso instead of a salty, aged one.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Saikyō miso (Kyoto)Kyoto premium white miso, salt about 5 %. Kyoto white miso was named a "100-year food" by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2022.

Safety

White miso spoils in quality fast when warm. In one study, commercial white miso at 30 °C lost value in about 10 days and was soft and sticky by 45 days, while at 10 °C it was unchanged after 180 days. Keep it cold.

History and sources

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

Sweet white miso probably developed among Kyoto craftsmen in the 14th–15th centuries [SIC-miso2].

  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. [DOMOTO-1989] Dōmoto Y. 1989, 味噌の地域特性 —西日本編— (regional features of miso, western Japan), J. Brew. Soc. Japan 84(2):76–82, doi:10.6013/jbrewsocjapan1988.84.76paper
  3. [MAFF-TF-siromiso] MAFF, にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Japan's traditional foods), 白味噌 (Kyoto white miso)gov
  4. [JA-WIKI-西京味噌] Japanese Wikipedia, 西京味噌wiki
  5. [JA-miso] Japanese Wikipedia, 味噌 (miso; type table of koji ratio, salt and ageing)wiki
  6. [WP-Miso] English Wikipedia, Misowiki
  7. [SIC-miso2] Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Miso and Soybean Jiang, SoyInfo Centerbook