Miso: Healthy and Almighty
Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008

Marukome opens its first U.S. factory in Irvine. The company hopes the American public will discover that miso is more than just the brown paste in miso soup.

Photos by NAO GUNJI/Rafu Shimpo
Marukome Irvine Production Manager Takehiro Nishida supervises the overall operation of the miso factory, which opened last December.

Soybean and rice mixture is collected into a large bin before fermentation.

A recent study by the Japan public Health Center revealed that the intake of soybeans and soy isoflavones decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke among women. Isoflavones, often referred to as phytoestrogens, are naturally oc­curring compounds in soy that share some properties in common with the hormone estrogen.

In the United States, cardiovas­cular disease, such as heart attacks and strokes, causes nearly 2,400 deaths each day, an aver­age of one death every 37 seconds (women of the baby boomer gen­eration comprising 25 percent of the total U.S. female population).

Dietitians and nutritionists have been certainly aware of the health benefits of consuming soy for decades, however, soy still has a long way to go before becoming a main fixture on America’s dining tables.

But hope has arrived. One Japanese food company has opened its first U.S. factory here in Southern California with the mission of spreading the soy-joy to one dining table after another. Their weapon of choice? It’s the mysterious brown paste they call—miso.

Last December, Marukome, the world’s leading producer of miso, celebrated the grand opening of its first U.S. headquar­ters and factory in Irvine, Calif. Rafu Shimpo had an opportunity to visit the factory and find out what exactly the mysterious brown paste is…

What is Miso?
First thing first. The mysterious paste is made of three simple ingredients: soybeans, rice and salt (some use barley instead of soybeans, while others use soybeans only). Steamed beans get mixed with koji rice yeast and salt, then ferment­ed for a couple of months. At Marukome, they make three types of miso depending on the length of fermentation—Shinshu Aka, Shinshu Shio, and Shiro—but only the most popular Shinshu Shiro is being made at the Irvine factory. Originally from China, miso was enjoyed by Buddhist monks and nobles as a luxury in the eighth century, but it wasn’t until the 17th Century that industrial production of miso began in Japan. Miso was developed regionally to fit different climates and different eat­ing customs. Marukome was established in 1854 in Nagano to become the king of Shinshu style miso production (region of was called “Shin­shu” back then).

Today, there are about 1,400 miso plants and 1,300 types of miso in Japan, and the country produces approximately 560,000 tons of miso every year. As the world’s largest miso pro­ducer, Marukome generates 100,000 tons of miso a year and exports 500 tons to the With this state-of-the-art, 3-acre factory in Irvine, the company plans to ship out 1,000 tons of miso annually in the

Making Miso
The Miso-making process is quite simple. First, soybeans and rice are sorted, rinsed, soaked and steamed separately. The rice gets mixed with koji-starter and incubated for two nights to become koji yeast. Then the koji is mixed with the steamed soybeans, salt and lactobacilli. The mixture is stored in the fermentation tank for a couple of months before packag­ing and shipment.

Health Benefits of Miso
Soybean contains protein, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, vitamin E, enzyme. sabonin, tripsin inhibitor, isoflavone, colins, lecithin, prostaglandin brown pigment and dietary fiber. In Japan, a cup of miso soup in the morning is often described as a “detoxifying drug in the morning” or the “Doctor Killer.” Miso’s health benefits include: lowering cholesterol; preventing artery blockage; removing grime from smoking; lower­ing the occurrence of stomach, liver, prostate, colon, breast cancer; reduc­ing the risk of heart disease and bone problems; and alleviating hot flashes associated with menopause.

Miso, More Than Just Miso Soup
Can you name any dishes using miso other than miso soup? Although you can enjoy miso soup with a variety of ingre­dients—actually you can add almost any­thing—and the health benefits of eating miso soup every day are immense, miso is a versatile seasoning and preserving agent. Here are some of the miso recipes offered by Marukome and Soyconnection.com.

1. Lemon Miso Dressing
Ingredients:
Miso 1/2 cup
Water 1/3 cup
Grated fresh ginger 2 teaspoons
Sugar and lemon juice 1/3 cup each
Soybean oil (vegetable oil) 2 table­spoons
Grated lemon peel 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions (makes 1.5 cups):
Mix miso, water and ginger in blender, strain and reserve liquid. Blend reserved liquid and remaining ingredients until thoroughly mixed.

Serving Suggestion:
Serve 2 to 3 tablespoons over mixed greens or sliced cucumbers.

Nutrition Per Serving (per 2 tablespoons dressing):
67 calories, 1.5 gm protein, 9.4 gm car­bohydrates, 3.0 gm fat, o mg cholesterol, 418 mg sodium, 0.7 dietary fiber

2. Miso Sponge Cake
Ingredients (Makes 4-5 slices):
Aka Miso 10 gm
Egg 1
Sugar 40gm
Vegetable oil 5 gm
Milk 8 gm
Honey 10 gm
Flour 30 gm
Orange peel 10 gm

Instructions:
Spread cooking sheet on a cake pan. Whip egg white and add half of the sugar gradu­ally. Add the other half of sugar to egg yolk and whip the mixture. Add vegetable oil, milk and honey to egg yolk and mix. Add flour to egg yolk gradually and stir. Add egg white to the mix and stir. Finally, add miso and orange peel gradually to the mix and pour it into the cake pan. Bake 20 minutes on 170 degree and 10-15 more minutes on 160 degree.

Nutrition (per cake):
440 calories, 1.5 gm sodium

Ask the Marukome Production Manager
Rafu: How long have you been in­volved in miso making?

Takehiro Nishida: I joined Marukome in Nagano in 1992 and I came to the United States last March to help establish this factory. I thought it would be an excit­ing job to make and sell miso in America. There was one miso maker before us in the U.S., but the consumption here wasn’t growing. I’m excited about market poten­tials we will explore for Marukome.

Rafu: How much of the dry weather in L.A. affects miso making?

TN: Weather doesn’t affect miso mak­ing at all because everything is computer­ized nowadays. Temperature is perfectly set for each room, each process. When we didn’t have the technology, different kinds of miso making were developed in different regions of Japan, and that was probably why miso making was so popular in Nagano.

Rafu: What are your daily duties as the production manager?

TN: It’s only four of us working in the factory, so I’m hands-on. Since the factory is relatively new, I have a lot of paperwork to do as well. So my job is not only to supervise the production in the factory, but also pretty much everything to do with the products.

Rafu: What are the most important as­pects when it comes to miso making?

TN: Quality of ingredients and koji yeast, they’re very important. As far as the ingredients, soybeans are the key. Luckily, American soybeans are very suitable for miso making, so we use them in Japan and of course here, too … In order to produce high–quality miso, clean and well-made koji is essential. We have a state-of-the-art koji-making machine shipped here from Japan, so I think I can say our koji is in a very good condition … Quality of koji determines sweetness and umami of miso. It defines the taste of miso, so if we are not happy with our koji, we certainly wouldn’t be happy with our miso.

Rafu: Where do you ship out the miso from this factory?

TN: Mainly Japanese restaurants here in the U.S. Our customers will be limited to businesses for a while, but eventually we’d like to create more variety in our products by seasoning and modifying them. We want to introduce miso as more than just an ingredient for miso soup.

Rafu: What do you want the American public to know about miso?

TN: Many Americans know what miso is, but don’t know that it’s made of soy­beans and rice. Some may be familiar with miso soup, but don’t know what miso is. I want to teach them that miso is made of soybeans and very beneficial to our health, just like tofu and soymilk. I want them to know that miso is more than just a miso soup ingredient. It’s great for seasoning, goes well with meat, vegetables, fish and even dessert. I think that notion would help miso explore its much bigger potential.

—Additional reporting by NAO GUNJI