The Taste of the Heart: A Miso-Making Lesson, the Flavor of Salt at Hualien

Text/ Xu Siting, Farming Law School  Photos/ Dawang Vegetable Shop Farming Law School

Last weekend, taking advantage of the week that Mr. Naoki Shiomi spent staying in Shoufeng while visiting Hualien, Sister Ouyang from the vegetable shop invited Mr. Shiomi and Brother Wu to teach everyone how to make miso together.

During the gathering, Atu, a senior from the previous class, told Brother Wu that they had always talked about making miso, but never expected it would begin at a time like this. Brother Wu smiled and said: "That's right - everyone's life is too busy. When people are busy, their hearts waver. When making miso, the heart must be calm, and the rice koji will follow along and be happy and peaceful too."

The state of mind of the person making miso at the time affects the fermentation state of the rice koji, and in that sense, it could also be called the taste of the heart.

Naoki Shiomi, 2011.10.23, sharing miso making with Farming Law School partners at Photosynthesis Ecological Farm in Shoufeng Township, Hualien

Making miso involves several important elements:

1. Sea salt
The quality and proportion of salt are very important, and are a key factor affecting fermentation. However, too much salt makes it too salty. There is no fixed rule for the ratio; it is entirely a matter of experience accumulated over time.

Recipe ratio for this session

• Soybeans: 1 kg
• Sea salt: 270 g
• Rice koji: 30 g

2. Soybeans
Hualien No. 1 soybeans have a distinct black line at the bean hilum. The resulting miso will have black specks, which are often mistaken for genetically modified beans. The detailed ingredients and process are recorded on pages 65-67 of Chapter 2, "A Simple Life, a Grand Dream," in Shiomi's "Half-Farmer, Half-X."

What actually happened in practice was that the soybeans Shiomi uses in Japan differ from the Hualien No. 1 we used this time, so although the soybeans had already been soaked overnight and boiled for 30 minutes according to Mr. Shiomi's instructions, the beans were still too hard and could not be mashed well by hand. After everyone worked hard for more than 20 minutes, they still had to quietly bring out a high-tech bean grinder to lend a hand.

  

3. Rice koji
In Taiwan, generally speaking, rice koji is obtained from one's seniors, or someone at the market will be selling it... that's what Brother Wu said. So where did the seniors get their rice koji? The answer is...

From their seniors' seniors! So this is a passing down of flavor, and it is still very much alive and kicking ~

However, how was the very first rice koji created? Actually, you can grow rice koji yourself too! It just takes some effort to cultivate the bacteria. Alan and Yaqi, standing off to the side, were already eager to try making their own rice koji.

Mr. Shiomi said he really enjoys making miso, because he can make it with his family, then eat it together and share it with relatives and friends ~

Figuring out how to use various ingredients to work with various kinds of koji is quite interesting, and the miso produced has its own distinctive flavor in each case. Japan's highest-grade miso is made from black beans. Making miso is a hands-on feeling accumulated through actual practice; knowledge alone is not enough.

In Japan, different shops each have their own koji strain, which becomes each shop's unique recipe.

The Taste of Home

Miso's flavor is influenced by many subtle factors. Besides the basic types of sea salt, soybeans, and rice koji, the moisture and softness of the cooked beans and rice, the evenness with which the beans, rice, and salt are mixed together, and the environment of the storage room where it waits to mature are all very important! In Japan, families that make their own miso have a small room specifically for storing miso. Over several generations, the bacteria from the miso that has been made live in this small space, accompanying the family members and becoming a flavor passed down within that family.

Who knows whether the miso everyone made together on this day will become a flavor passed down by the Dawang Vegetable Shop Farming Law School? Looking forward to it~~