Miso - yes or no?

"Miso should be the least faddish of ingredients. It is age-old. It is the product of a slow, semi-wild process, at least traditionally. It’s controlled rot, for goodness sake."

Food 52

But it is a fad isn't it? Well by fad I mean that it's 'hot', as are all fermented foods and the human biome. I'm not quite sure why this came up but I do remember David asking what it was. And I didn't really have an answer other than that it was Japanese, and since we are not huge fans of Japanese food we didn't eat it. I don't think I realised that it was fermented, so maybe this will inspire interest from David because he is entirely into the human biome, probiotics and all of that.

So what is miso? If you really want to know absolutely everything go to Wikipedia which has a very long article about all the different types and uses, history and production. SBS Food sums it up quite well though:

"Miso is a staple Japanese ingredient, made by fermenting soybeans and grains (rice, barley, buckwheat, millet, rye for example) with salt and a particular type of fungus, called Aspergillus oryzae. The result is a thick paste, the colour of which varies according to many different factors (the exact ingredients, the season, the region, the duration of fermentation and the fermenting vessel, to name a few). There are three main types: shiromiso (white miso); akamiso (red miso); and awasemiso (“mixed” miso). Generally, white is the most widely produced type and is made using rice, barley and a smaller percentage of soy beans than other types. It is sweeter and softer tasting than other types, such as red, which is aged for up to a year, is salty and can even be a little astringent. Miso made using natural fermentation is still a living substance and, for this reason, it should be cooked gently or the beneficial microorganisms it contains will be killed though over heating."

So don't boil your miso soup! And yes the thing to take note of is that the darker it is the more strongly flavoured it will be. The inference being that it doesn't actually taste all that nice on its own. No hummus type things here.

Incidentally the SBS article above also has 10 recipes for non-standard things to do with miso - i.e. not miso soup. They include an ice-cream, a parsnip pâté, some cookies and a few meat dishes. It's quite a variety. A good place to start if you are looking for things to do with miso. And there are lots of recipes for all sorts of things on the net. All the famous chefs have something, even Delia though admittedly she does stick to soup.

Umami is the word that stood out for me. And umami that's good for you. Just add a bit to whatever and it will taste better. Well that seems to be the message.

"It’s not hard to figure out why miso is everywhere. Cooking with it feels a little like using performance-enhancing drugs: you shouldn’t be achieving so much with so little effort. It’s a blast of umami" Food 52

So do you still have to go to the health food store to get this magic ingredient? No - you can get it in the supermarket, which is a sure sign that it is mainstream and fashionable and will have high sales. Both Coles and Woolworths have the paste itself - red and white - and various soups, but they don't seem to have branched out into more inventive products. Not in their online offerings anyway.

And miso soup?

Adam Liaw gives a bit of a rundown on the importance of miso soup to the Japanese, and also an actual recipe of course.

"It's often said that the true heart of Japanese cuisine can be found in a simple meal of just three things: a bowl of rice, a plate of pickles, and a bowl of miso soup. Miso soup is a side dish served as a small portion of savoury soup and complementary ingredients and sipped directly from the bowl throughout a Japanese meal. All you need to make authentic miso soup is some miso, a soup base, and a few ingredients to go inside." Adam Liaw

I think if you add noodles it becomes ramen soup - ramen is another thing I might do another time.

The current popularity of miso is associated, of course with the current huge interest in the human biome and its effect on just about every disease, both physical and mental, under the sun, and fermented foods which are supposed to improve the variety of bacteria in your gut. But really it's early days.

"However, to support the belief that fermented foods are beneficial, we need to know about each microbial strain’s role in the body. The absence of this in-depth knowledge makes it difficult to recommend the consumption or avoidance of fermented products. After all, we often don’t know the bacterial strains used in starter cultures, let alone their value." Noby Leong - Australia's Science Channel

Noby Leong, who wrote this article, has a PhD in Chemistry so probably knows what he is talking about. He maintains that so far the research has really been all about cataloguing the millions of different bacteria. So far we don't really know what each bacteria does.

"As more research is undertaken, it seems apparent that bacteria in our body are like our very own gastrointestinal stewards, protecting our body and keeping us healthy. It therefore follows that a gut devoid of microbes may lead to ill health effects like obesity, depression and diabetes. It’s this point that the fermented food industry has capitalised on – if our gut lacks good bacteria necessary for good health, then fermented foods, which contain a host of probiotic strains, can fill the void." Noby Leong - Australia's Science Channel

I don't think that anyone is saying fermented foods are not good for you, I think they are merely cautious about exactly what they do and which ones are best. So a fad that should perhaps be exploited for the umami taste, and less so for the health benefits - of which there are definitely some, but maybe not quite as much as we thought. We just don't know. It's not all that expensive either. So maybe I should try it.