Miso happy

Since I love to learn things, especially about cooking and homemaking, the park moms always let me know when an interesting class is being offered at one of the local community centers.  A few weeks ago, my friend told me about a miso class.  Miso is one of the staple ingredients of Japanese cuisine.  Along with soy sauce, sake, and mirin, miso is everywhere.  It is a simple mixture of soybeans, fungus, and salt, but it is really so much more than that.

I showed up early for the class because I was really excited.  I've tried to make miso before, but I failed when it got mold several months into the process.  It was so heartbreaking.  I don't know exactly what went wrong last time, but this time I wanted more guidance beyond a book.  The class was taught by an employee of a local miso company.  Koujiya Saburo Uemon is a Nerima institution.  It is the only miso company in Tokyo prefecture that still makes their miso by hand.  It is a real opportunity to be able to learn from a master.

The class started with a speech that I would have loved to have understood.  I knew that I would miss a lot of information, but I'm able to comprehend a ton when I able to get my hands dirty.

After washing our hands, we sprayed everything with alcohol. 

We mixed the salt with the koji (the fungus grown on rice that is used for making miso, soy sauce, and sake) and set it aside for later use.

We were then handed bags of hot, cooked soybeans.  It was really fun to squeeze and smash the beans inside the bag.  Although the beans don't have to be perfectly smooth, they need to be smooshed.  As the class pressed, the smell of peanut butter rose to my nose.  I kept having to ask myself if I was going nuts, because it seem so strange to be smelling peanuts when I was obviously smashing soy beans, but that is what my nose was smelling.

I heard the words "food processor" and "vitamix" as the instructor talked to the class.  So, I asked my friend what he was talking about.  She said "Don't try to do this in your food processor because it will burn up the engine.  The beans are too sticky."   It made me laugh because I have killed more than one food processor in my day. 

Once it was sufficiently smashed, we opened the bag and let some air into it.  After closing it back up with a bubble of air, we shook the bag until the soy bean paste formed into a ball.  The ball was then unceremoniously dumped into a large bucket. 

After pounding it a bit, we added some water and combined the two. 

Once combined, we dumped in the koji and salt mixture.  It was finally time to get our hands dirty.  Well, not really, since we were wearing gloves.  But, we got our hands in there and combined the rest of the ingredients.

Scraping everything out of the bucket, we put the miso into plastic bags to take home.

That was the end of the class.  Next, I have to find a container to put my miso in for the fermenting process.  I will put the miso into something.  I have not decided what, just yet.  Once I pick the container, I will actually throw the miso into it to make sure there isn't any air between the container and the paste.  I will then cover the miso with plastic wrap and stick it into the closet for 6 months.  Yep.  Six long months. 

I will check on it at that time and then stick it back in the closet again for another 3 months.  After percolating for 9 months, we will finally be able to enjoy it. 

When September rolls around, we'll be able to find out if this adventure was a success or a failure.  The pressure is there!  I hope I don't fail again.  I would love to be able to regularly make my own miso.  It feels like a true work of art.  Some people fill canvases.  I fill bellies.  It's just what I do.