Greetings from South River Miso and welcome to our Fall 2012 season! We’d like to thank all of our wonderful customers as we enter our 34th season and share some news with you. All of our varieties are currently in stock online at southrivermiso.com. Please take some time to discover more about our miso by browsing through our website.
As the weather cools in many parts of the country, thoughts turn to bubbling soups and hearty baked dishes. Miso is the perfect seasoning for the bountiful fall harvest. It is both savory and delicious and full of enzymes and naturally occurring probiotics that can boost your digestive and immune powers. Stay healthy. Cook with miso in the coming season.
As the weather gets cooler, we look to spend time in the kitchen creating warm and nourishing food. In honor of our fortieth season making miso, please enjoy this recipe for 40 Garlic Clove Chicken Soup from our food artist in residence, Chef Jen. This recipe serves 12 and is perfect for your next gathering. Or, you may just want to have plenty of leftovers as this delicious soup is also great warmed up and eaten regularly to support health this time of year.
Kale is so good for us — it’s very high in vitamins K, A and C. And it can taste very good, too, as in this simple recipe.
Serves two or three
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped fresh kale
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Water as needed
1-2 teaspoons South River Hearty Brown Rice Miso
Directions:
1. Chop 2-3 garlic cloves finely.
2. Select dark green, crisp kale leaves. To soften, pound the center rib of the leaves with the handle end of a heavy knife. Cut vertically down the center rib. Next, chop the leaves into fine pieces.
3. Add olive oil to a pan with a heavy bottom. When heated, add chopped garlic. Stir garlic for a moment. Next, add chopped kale. Stir to coat with oil. Add 1-2 tsp of water and cook covered for 5-7 minutes, stirring a few times. Kale should be bright green and tender.
4. Mix 1-2 tsp Hearty Brown Rice Miso with 2 Tblsp of water in a small bowl. Add to kale and stir for a moment.
On July 20, 2012, at the International Macrobiotic Summer Conference in New Jersey, Michio Kushi, foremost elder and leader of the world-wide macrobiotic movement, presented the annual Aveline Kushi Award to Christian and Gaella Elwell. Christian, accompanied by his son, Isaiah, received the award on behalf of South River Miso Company.
The award reads: “In the spirit of gratitude and appreciation, I present the Aveline Award to you for your continual dedication to the cultivation and world-wide distribution of the highest quality miso products for the goal of planetary health and one peaceful world.”
It was an honor to receive this award from Michio Kushi who, 37 years earlier, on my 28th birthday, introduced me to a way of life that he and his wife, Aveline, brought to thousands in the West through the world view of macrobiotics. At that time I was still in the process of recovering from hepatitis, which I had contracted while on a spiritual quest in India. When this serious illness first befell me, I thought it was the end of my life. In truth, it was a new beginning.
Michio has a shining positive attitude and a genuine gratitude for all that life brings to us. His was an influence which very much reinvigorated my own life, gave me hope when modern civilization seemed lacking in meaning, and helped me gain direction when the world seemed headed the wrong way. South River Miso Company came into being out of our deepest aspirations to contribute to the forward movement of humanity towards wholeness, compassion, and peace.
Gaella and I lived with the Kushis in 1976 – 77. Aveline welcomed us into her home and into her kitchen. She and her students taught us how to prepare and enjoy natural foods with understanding, appreciation, and skill, and to use food as medicine. It was there that we came to value miso as a healing food, and that the idea first came to us to make miso as a way of right livelihood.
Aveline had an especially warm and deep relationship with miso that stretched far back to her childhood in Japan. Her first of several books was How to Cook with Miso, published in 1978, which she illustrated with many charming drawings. Now long out of print, used copies are still available online. To try a warming bean dish recipe from Aveline’s book, click here.
Thank you, Michio and Aveline Kushi, and to all our friends in the macrobiotic and natural foods movement!
– Christian Elwell
PH: 413.369.4057
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