Nama Miso: What type of soybean paste is it?

Known as an essential ingredient in Japanese cuisine, “miso (味噌)” is a seasoning paste made by fermenting soybeans with koji and salt.

Today, the Japanese fermented seasoning is fairly well recognized in many countries and in fact loved by many cooking enthusiasts.

Nama Miso (生味噌)

When it comes to the variety, the one with a reddish color “Aka Miso (赤味噌)“, the one with a whitish color “Shiro Miso (白味噌)“, and the blended one “Chogo Miso (調合味噌)” are most common.

Those regular miso pastes are usually packed in plastic bags after being heated or 2 to 3 percent ethyl alcohol is added, by which the koji mold in the paste is sterilized to inactivate.

However, there is a type of miso called “Nama Miso (生味噌: literally Raw or Fresh Miso)” which isn’t sterilized like that and is directly put in plastic bags from the miso barrel as it is.

Taste

As the activity of the koji mold encourages the fermentation of miso and makes the paste mature, unlike normal miso pastes, the quality and taste of Nama Miso change over time even after they are shipped to stores.

But just because of that, Nama Miso is favored by many of those who are particular about the taste of miso.

(Reference Pages: Wikipedia 味噌, Marukawa Miso )