Decanting Homemade Miso Paste - A Garbanzo Bean Red Miso
Miso paste you buy in the store is good, but wait until you try making your very own miso at home with just a few ingredients. There is nothing quite like the experience of opening up your own crock of aged miso.
On our homemade miso recipe page we showed you how to "make the miso", now we will show you the end results once it is ripe and ready to decant.
The time came yesterday for the birthing of an almost 2 year fermentation process. I made the miso on 4-15-09 and decanted it yesterday on 2-7-11. It was kind of like opening a time capsule, but even better!
First off, when I removed the cloth and weight, the rich like fragrance was deep and penetrating, like a fine wine. I was very excited and couldn't wait to reveal what was beneath the surface.
I scraped off the top layer (about 1/2 an inch), which is commonly a bit "ugly" looking, but even that seemed like it would have tasted pretty good. I discarded it just to make sure.
What I found underneath was an amazing fermented food that literally made me jump up and down with excitement. The texture alone was incredible and most of the garbanzo beans had broken down completely, but there was still some bean pieces to create a nice consistency. It was smooth and buttery as I spooned it out of the gallon jar into a bowl!
From there, I stored it in mason jars. When I made the miso, almost 2 years ago, it was about 3/4 of a gallon after I filled the jar. I noticed, that after it aged and fermented, it shrank quite a bit, almost 1/4 in size. So, in the end, I had two quart mason jars and one pint size mason jar. Not too bad, mostly all I had to do for the miso paste was make it, store it and wait!
Note: Once decanted, you can store your miso in the fridge or in a cool cupboard or basement. The thing to remember is: when miso is left out of refrigeration it continues to expand and ferment slightly. So you will need to release the pressure once in awhile by unscrewing the lid. Also, keeping an air space between the miso and the lid is a good idea.
Next was the taste test. I gave it a try... wow, an explosion of tastes and fine seasoned flavor with a tamari-like aroma. I made a miso dressing with it and marinated some chopped veggies for an hour.... heaven! Later that night we made miso soup, my husband was also delighted at the results. This homemade miso paste is nothing like the store bought variety, I can vouch for that.
Miso years are calculated by the number of summers it has aged. So, if you have gone through one summer of fermentation, then you have one year old miso.
How To Time It Right
Yes, the miso making process does take time, but if you think of it this way... once you start making it, you always have it. It's really just the first batch you have to wait for in my opinion.
Decide how much you consume yearly (say three gallons).
Make your 3 gallons and wait one year.
Decant these first three gallons of miso paste.
Start your next three gallons after you've decanted the previous 3.
Did you get all that?
This way, by the time you run out of miso you will always be decanting your next batch. So, you never run out! You can even just decant a jar at a time, so you can maximize the fermentation time.
I have not experienced Asian cultures for myself, but I could probably guess that this is the way they traditionally do it.
The same thing goes for other super ferments, like kombucha, sauerkraut recipes, or seed cheese and especially when sprouting seeds for super sprouts. If you want to eat them on a regular basis you just need to make sure you prepare in advance for the amount that you consume.
Try this delicious paste in some of our other recipes like:
From there, I stored it in mason jars. When I made the miso, almost 2 years ago, it was about 3/4 of a gallon after I filled the jar. I noticed, that after it aged and fermented, it shrank quite a bit, almost 1/4 in size. So, in the end, I had two quart mason jars and one pint size mason jar. Not too bad, mostly all I had to do for the miso paste was make it, store it and wait!
