Miso is soy beans fermented with mold (koji), salt and grains. To make miso, soybeans and sometimes a grain such as rice, are combined with salt and a mold culture, and then aged in cedar vats for one to three years.  Good miso contains live lactobacillus bacteria, 13-20% protein and amino acid patern similar to meat with a trace of B12.

 Buying & Storing Miso

• UNPASTURIZED (always refrigerated) AGED (preferably 3 years).  Keep for several months. The white mold on miso is harmless.

 Using Miso

• flavour soups, in sauces, dressings, marinades, patés, and/or as a salt or soy sauce substitute
•  high in sodium, use it sparingly
• 1/4 cup in a quart of water = soup stock. A tbsp of miso mixed into a cup of hot water produces a lovely broth
• ½ tsp salt = 2 tbsp soy sauce 1.5 tbsp mellow miso = 21/2-3 tbsp sweet miso
• darker longer-fermented (3 years) miso for colder climate; lighter, less fermented for warmer climates; red, moderately fermented for moderate climate or year round.

BASIC SOUP FORMULA (serves 4-6):  2-3 tbsp miso; 4 cups water; 1 tsp sesame oil; 1.2 cups chopped vegetables (ex Shitake mushrooms and spring onions); Miso; ½ cup wakame or kombu seaweed. 

Directions: sauté seaweed and vegetables.  Add water and bring to scald.  Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 5 minuets.  Cream miso in a little broth, return to soup.  Bring soup back to scald and remove from heat.  Garnish. 

TEMPEH

Tempeh has a firm texture similar to blue cheese and a distinctive mushroom-like flavour.  This Indonesian food is made from cooked soy beans bound by mold (Rhizopus) into patties.  Some varieties add grains.  It is great for frail deficient persons.  It has 19% protein, is low in saturated fats, high in unsaturated fats, a good source of omega-3 FA.  Rhizopus produces a medicinal antibiotic to increase resistance to infections.  Asian tempeh is a great source of B12 but West varieties not.

Storing Tempeh

Purchase frozen and store in the freezer for several months, or in the refrigerator for about ten days. Surface mold is harmless.

Cooking Basics

• cooked thoroughly before eating by baking, steaming, broiling or frying
• substitute for meat, poultry or fish in recipes (ex. Instead of ground beef stuffed in peppers or in chilli)

·         Marinate steamed tempeh, then bake, broil or grill it. Serve in a sandwich, on kabobs oe bite-sized pieces on toothpicks

·         Steam tempeh and them mush it up.  Lightly fry with garlic, onions, salt/pepper.  Stuff this into a pepper OR roll it in steamed large leafy greens. Pour tomato based sauce over it and bake.  

TOFU

Tofu is a processed soybean curd that is easier to digest than soybeans.  It is mixed with a natural solidifier (nigari or lemon juice).  Some commercial brands us chemical solidifiers (alum, vinegar, etc.), providing inferior quality.   It comes as firm, soft and silken, which is custard-like. 

Cooking Basics

It is fairly bland and can be added to most dishes when you want to give a dish a protein boost.  It can be baked, fried, steamed, broiled, sautéed and eaten raw. 

Medicinal properties:  good protein in moderate amounts especially in warmer weather and by those with excess heat – it has a cooling and moistening nature.  In the winter, cooking and adding warm spices such as ginger can neutralize its cool nature.  Tofu is an excellent source of protein and calcium for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.  Excess amounts can cause kidney-adrenal weakness.