South River Miso is not classified as a perishable food; therefore, we are not required to put an expiration date on our miso.
South River Miso will keep almost indefinitely, if it is properly stored. If you are new to miso or live in a warm climate, we recommend storing our miso in your refrigerator with the jar tightly sealed to exclude outside contamination. Kept this way, it will last for months, even years.
If you are not using miso for an extended time, periodically open the jar and even fluff up the surface with a clean spoon before smoothing it back down again. This helps to keep the miso fresh and helps you stay in touch with it as a living culture.
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Miso has been around for well over a thousand years and home refrigeration for little more than one hundred. Traditionally miso was kept without refrigeration, but it was also made with more salt, and the care of miso was part of the cultural know-how.
In our home in New England, we have been living with miso for about fifty years, and, as regular miso users, we know how to keep miso without refrigeration. Disclaimer: what works for us here may not work for you, if you live in a different clime, Florida or Arizona, for instance.
We keep several jars on the kitchen counter with other condiments and seasonings. If we are not using a particular variety regularly, we store it in a pantry cupboard or root cellar, the coolest room in our house. A dark, dry place of moderate and stable temperature is the ideal location to store miso.
Less is more. For greatest benefit, especially as an everyday, probiotic functional food, miso should be used in small amounts on a regular basis. A few teaspoons per day would be average use, and this will vary from person to person depending on age, body size, and activity.
People who need to restrict their salt intake for health reasons should use miso carefully and in moderation.
When seasoning soup (after cooking), begin by adding about 2 teaspoons of miso per cup of liquid, adding more as needed to achieve the desired taste. Too bland? Add more miso. Too salty? Use less. You want to find just the right amount for your personal or family taste.
The miso should mingle with the flavor of the soup and enhance, but not overpower it. In some of the best miso cookery, you don’t know the miso is there.
When using the three-year aged dark miso, less will be needed because of its richer flavor and higher salt content. To achieve the same degree of flavor with the light, lower salt varieties, more miso may be needed.
Dark miso and light miso can also be mixed together for special effect.
Of the nine varieties of our miso, seven are made with non-gluten ingredients:
Hearty Brown Rice, Dandelion Leek, Sweet Tasting Brown Rice, Azuki Bean Miso, Chickpea Miso, Sweet White, Garlic Red Pepper Miso.
Two of our varieties are made with barley, which contains gluten: Three Year Barley Miso and Chick Pea Barley Miso.
All nine varieties of our miso are made in the same building using the same equipment, but they are made in separate batches. We are not a certified 100% gluten-free facility.
Miso containing barley is not made at the same time as the gluten-free varieties. The equipment is thoroughly washed between the production of each variety.
Four varieties are made without soybeans: Chick Pea Barley Miso, Azuki Bean Miso, Chickpea Miso, and Garlic Red Pepper Miso.
The chunky texture of South River Miso is the natural result of intentionally following the traditional methods of miso making that were universal until World War II and the advent of modern food processing equipment. (See Making Miso)
William Shurtleff writes in The Book of Miso (page 33):
Chunky miso (tsubu miso) is any variety [of miso] in which the shape of the soybeans (and usually of the koji grains) is still visible. It is the oldest form of miso and comprised virtually all that was made before 1945. During the mixing and mashing of ingredients before the fermentation of natural miso, almost all of the koji and at least half the soybeans were left in their natural form. [This was due to the fact that the miso was mixed and mashed under foot rather than puréed into a smooth texture by machine. ed.] The koji gradually dissolved as the miso aged, but the beans generally retained their individual form, even after three years of fermentation, thereby lending the finished miso a distinctive, flavor-enhancing texture.
South River Miso is not classified as a perishable food; therefore, we are not required to put an expiration date on our miso.
South River Miso will keep almost indefinitely, if it is properly stored. If you are new to miso or live in a warm climate, we recommend storing our miso in your refrigerator with the jar tightly sealed to exclude outside contamination. Kept this way, it will last for months, even years.
If you are not using miso for an extended time, periodically open the jar and even fluff up the surface with a clean spoon before smoothing it back down again. This helps to keep the miso fresh and helps you stay in touch with it as a living culture.
Â
Miso has been around for well over a thousand years and home refrigeration for little more than one hundred. Traditionally miso was kept without refrigeration, but it was also made with more salt, and the care of miso was part of the cultural know-how.
In our home in New England, we have been living with miso for about fifty years, and, as regular miso users, we know how to keep miso without refrigeration. Disclaimer: what works for us here may not work for you, if you live in a different clime, Florida or Arizona, for instance.
We keep several jars on the kitchen counter with other condiments and seasonings. If we are not using a particular variety regularly, we store it in a pantry cupboard or root cellar, the coolest room in our house. A dark, dry place of moderate and stable temperature is the ideal location to store miso.
Less is more. For greatest benefit, especially as an everyday, probiotic functional food, miso should be used in small amounts on a regular basis. A few teaspoons per day would be average use, and this will vary from person to person depending on age, body size, and activity.
People who need to restrict their salt intake for health reasons should use miso carefully and in moderation.
When seasoning soup (after cooking), begin by adding about 2 teaspoons of miso per cup of liquid, adding more as needed to achieve the desired taste. Too bland? Add more miso. Too salty? Use less. You want to find just the right amount for your personal or family taste.
The miso should mingle with the flavor of the soup and enhance, but not overpower it. In some of the best miso cookery, you don’t know the miso is there.
When using the three-year aged dark miso, less will be needed because of its richer flavor and higher salt content. To achieve the same degree of flavor with the light, lower salt varieties, more miso may be needed.
Dark miso and light miso can also be mixed together for special effect.
Of the nine varieties of our miso, seven are made with non-gluten ingredients:
Hearty Brown Rice, Dandelion Leek, Sweet Tasting Brown Rice, Azuki Bean Miso, Chickpea Miso, Sweet White, Garlic Red Pepper Miso.
Two of our varieties are made with barley, which contains gluten: Three Year Barley Miso and Chick Pea Barley Miso.
All nine varieties of our miso are made in the same building using the same equipment, but they are made in separate batches. We are not a certified 100% gluten-free facility.
Miso containing barley is not made at the same time as the gluten-free varieties. The equipment is thoroughly washed between the production of each variety.
Four varieties are made without soybeans: Chick Pea Barley Miso, Azuki Bean Miso, Chickpea Miso, and Garlic Red Pepper Miso.
The chunky texture of South River Miso is the natural result of intentionally following the traditional methods of miso making that were universal until World War II and the advent of modern food processing equipment. (See Making Miso)
William Shurtleff writes in The Book of Miso (page 33):
Chunky miso (tsubu miso) is any variety [of miso] in which the shape of the soybeans (and usually of the koji grains) is still visible. It is the oldest form of miso and comprised virtually all that was made before 1945. During the mixing and mashing of ingredients before the fermentation of natural miso, almost all of the koji and at least half the soybeans were left in their natural form. [This was due to the fact that the miso was mixed and mashed under foot rather than puréed into a smooth texture by machine. ed.] The koji gradually dissolved as the miso aged, but the beans generally retained their individual form, even after three years of fermentation, thereby lending the finished miso a distinctive, flavor-enhancing texture.
During the cooler months, we ship anywhere in the United States. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The rest of the year, please visit your local grocer.
PH: 413.369.4057
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