Miso

Let me tell you about miso, and let's be honest from the start — this is not an ordinary paste, it carries time in every spoonful.

Miso is soybeans, fermented, often with rice or barley added. Open the tub and dig a spoon in: the paste should give easily, soft and smooth, holding together instead of crumbling off the spoon. Salt goes in early, to guard the batch while it works, and the longer a batch sits, the darker and deeper it gets.

How do you choose good miso? Smell it before anything else. It should smell alive and earthy, never sharp or sour in an unpleasant way. Look at the colour — a deep, dark paste has usually sat longer than a pale one, though what went into the tub matters too. Taste a little off the spoon: a good miso is round and deep, not flat. The texture should be smooth and thick, never dry at the edges.

Some people say miso is just a seasoning, so you boil it in the soup like bouillon. No! Boil it hard and you'll notice the fragrance disappear. What this mistake leads to: a flat, one-note soup. Add miso at the very end, off the heat, stir it in gently, and taste what patience actually gives you.