Taste and use:
Intense umami is what sets our Miso Intense apart. It has a particularly high umami content and is therefore very popular in the kitchen. We recommend it for all dishes that require particularly strong flavors. It has a truly deep and strong savory flavor.
Production:
Unlike all other miso varieties, Intense is a blend of the three main types: rice miso, soy miso, and lupin miso. All other standard miso pastes may be added up to a total of 30%.
History of creation:
How did this come about? Michelin-starred chef Benjamin Peifer, from the Intense restaurant in Wachenheim an der Weinstraße, asked me in 2017 at a cooking event hosted by the current chef of the German national football team, Anton Schmaus, at the Storstad in Regensburg why I didn't offer a miso cuvée. I was horrified. Mixing my different varieties was out of the question for me at the time.
Benjamin then explained to me that he's been doing this for me in his kitchen so far; for him, as a Palatinate native, a cuvée—the blending of fine wines into something new and even higher quality—is a good thing. Therefore, he always mixes rice miso, soy miso, and lupin miso. He explains why he does this here:
"Lupin miso gives the whole thing a certain lightness, seduction, and sweetness; soy miso, on the other hand, a certain heaviness, a directness, strength, and power; and rice miso combines the two extremes and elevates everything to an even higher level."
Such a wealth of taste expertise, I was speechless—it's not for nothing that his restaurant is almost always fully booked. He convinced me that a cuvée here isn't a blend, but rather a wine of exceptionally high quality. I'm still grateful to him for this inspiration today.
