History of Miso

Miso is a Japanese form of fermented bean paste. It is made by pureeing well-cooked beans with koji salt and often ripe miso and/or other ingredients. In the Japanese tradition, there are many different varieties and regional styles of miso. “The palette of flavours and colours, textures and aromas of miso is at least as varied as that of the world’s fine wines or cheeses,” write Shurtleff and Aoyagi in another epic volume on the history of miso.
Originally from China, miso was introduced to Japan 1,300 years ago by Buddhist priests. Back then, the use of fermented mixtures of salt, grain and soya was an important means of preserving food during the warmer months, and this practice formed the backbone of miso production. The original Chinese soya bean paste was used in Japanese cuisine to make miso and shoyu (Japanese soya sauce), two hallmarks of Japanese cuisine.
Originally, it was a prized delicacy that was only enjoyed by the nobility because it contained rice – a luxury in its day. However, as news of its energising properties spread, the samurai included miso as an integral part of their diet.
Interestingly, historically, who ate what type of miso was a question of class. Rich landowners, kings or samurai only ate rice miso made from expensive, polished white rice. It was often so expensive that it was used as a gift or even as a means of payment. Farmers and labourers were forbidden to use the rice they harvested to make miso, so they used broken rice or other grains such as millet and barley. This explains why the darker miso made from these grains still has the reputation today of being the “poor man’s miso”. By the middle of the 14th century, the popularity of miso had spread and it was enjoyed by everyone from royalty to peasants who used it as an alternative to money in hard times.
There are more than 1,000 miso producers in Japan, and there are major regional differences. The northern regions, where most rice is grown, favour rice miso, the old capital Kyoto the more refined sweet white miso, the area around Aichi Prefecture pure soy miso, while the southern regions prefer barley miso or miso made from other grains.