The hunt for red miso (in October)...

I'd like to make Chicken and Chinese Broccoli Miso Stir-Fry, and either have (or can easily obtain) all of the ingredients--except red miso. Is it: a powder or a paste/ on a regular store shelf or in a refrigerator/ called something other than "red miso"/ in a regular grocery store or in a specialty store? My DH and I did find an instant soup that had a combination of red and white miso--and we both really liked the flavor. But we can't seem to find red miso... Help! (Thank you!! )

No suggestions but I love the title of your thread.

The miso called for in most recipes comes in paste form. You might have to look in an Asian market for some unless your local grocery has a really good international section. Miso paste is usually sold in small plastic tubs or jars and would be found in the chilled sections. You can use yellow miso instead of red if you can only find that color - the taste is different, but both will work fine in recipes.

The powered kind is a soup bouillon base, not the same thing, unless there is also a powered form that I don't know about - I suppose that is possible.

wiki has some good info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso

Usually comes in plastic tubs like this and not really red, but brownish red/brownish. Make sure you do not purchase ones with dashi already added since it's not all miso. If you cannot find red miso, substitute yellow or white.

Thank you all very much for your help!! Now that I know what to look for, red miso should be much easier to locate!

(DH and I have been watching the Dr. Oz show lately, and he had a segment on foods that help support the immune system. His examples were: sardines, carrot-papaya juice, miso soup, elderberry juice, and garlic. So, we thought we'd try to incorporate more of those into our diet.)

Many breakfasts in Japan always include miso soup and for many they cannot get going without it.....much like coffee.

Breakfast in Japan must have less sugar than breakfast in America? Sounds a lot healthier!

I was looking through the recipes that list miso (of any kind) as an ingredient, and I noticed that many of them don't specify which miso to use (for example: Eggplant Thai Stir Fry and Udon, Shiitake and Kale in Miso Broth). Is there a rule of thumb to this--like with wine (white wine with fish, red wine with meat)? Or is it up to the chef to use whatever they prefer?

This is a great question and I hope I can answer your question without getting too technical . Miso is very close to my heart. Not only do I use various miso in my cooking, I also occasionally make homemade miso. I am known to wander and taste sampling of miso after miso which is much like cheese or wine tasting when I go to some miso shops in and around Tokyo. Miso from all areas of Japan are kept in wooden vats much like wine like these where I like to shop. There are sometimes rows and rows of various miso made differently from all places in Japan and labeled as to the location, miso name, type of miso, maker (artisan miso), etc:


Some of the modern miso shops have their miso already packaged like these.



In the hierarchy of miso, there are 3 kinds - Modern miso (less fermentation time, inexpensive, not too good but acceptable), sweet or finger licking miso, and regular miso. Most miso falls into regular miso.

Within regular miso it is further divided by type of ingredients used in making miso, namely soybean miso, barley miso, and rice miso.

Salty versus sweet miso - all miso can be grouped according to their salt content. Varieties containing 10.5 to 14% salt are generally salty and at the other extreme, those containing about 7% salt is sweeter. Japan's sweetest miso is found around Kyoto.

Red versus white miso - red (generally it is brown colored) miso obtains its coloration from natural chemical changes requiring lengthy aging like wine whereas white miso is usually prepared by quick fermention. Generally, rice miso tends to be lighter in color than barley miso and barley miso tends to be ligther than soybean miso.


Ok, I can see I can go on and on with miso so I'll try to make it quick.

Usually yellow miso is Shinshu miso and has salty flavor. White miso usually sweeter. Red/brown miso has rich and savory sweetness (although still salty).

So, your question as to which miso to use

Mos people in the West have very limited experience with miso and tend to use whatever is available and if recipes do not indicate the type of miso, use either one. For sweeter taste, use white miso (not yellow). It's very unusual for Japanese written recipes using miso not to name the type of miso to be used, but in the West people generally do not know and it's understandable.

For the eggplant miso, I would use red/brown miso - savory.

In my opinion, the second recipe is lacking umami flavor ie broth - just the use of water and miso is not going to produce good final product.

Rinshinomori--Wow!! I had no idea miso was so complex or facinating--now I'm really excited to find and try some! The information in this thread has been of great help, so I'm going to print it out and put it in my cookbook for future reference. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain miso to me (and I love the photos!)!!

Good luck and remember a little goes a long way with miso and it keeps forever in the refrigerator if tightly sealed.

Like soy sauce--only with a different taste and consistency?

Well, I still don't have any red miso. It's not at our local grocery store (they have shrimp flavored udon noodles--but no miso), and it's not at Trader Joes (though we did buy some toasted sesame oil there--which should come in handy). But...I called the Whole Foods Market and they said they have it in their dairy section!!! So, I should be able to get some red miso very soon!! (As October comes to a close, so does the hunt for red miso!)

Edited on 11-23-09: I have some red miso!!!!! The Whole Foods Market does indeed have it in their dairy section! In fact, they have red, yellow, and white miso, as well as lower-sodium misos, and brown rice miso (quite a nice selection!). The red miso I got is a lower-sodium version called: Kyoto Red Miso. I used it this evening to make Chicken and Chinese Broccoli Miso Stir-Fry--which turned out GREAT! The flavor of the red miso and the soy sauce, combined with the other flavors in that recipe, produced a complex rich flavor that was just delicious! And because so little miso is used in a single recipe, I have lots of it left to play with! I need more recipes...!!