Basically, miso can be used in almost all dishes that use salt, spices, broth, meat, fish, tofu, vegetables and salad.

Rice Miso

Our rice miso is a mildly spicy miso. It consists of 50% white rice and 50% soybeans and has a salt content of 10.8%. It adds a mild base flavor to any dish. Therefore, we like to use it as a standard seasoning in the kitchen.

Tip: We recommend you start with this miso if you have no experience with miso pastes.

Soy Miso

Our soy miso is made from 100% soybeans from Lake Constance. With a salt content of 12%, it provides an aromatic base. It's a stronger flavor than rice miso, making it perfect for dark and rich soups, marinades, and barbecue sauces.

Barley Miso

The barley miso has a slightly malty flavor and is made from 50% barley and 50% soybeans with a salt content of 10.8%. We especially recommend it for marinating meat (also ideal for meat substitutes) and as a base for savory sauces.

Lupin Miso

A light, floral miso that completely avoids soybeans and consists instead of 50% lupin and 50% white rice. Ideal for use in light sauces and broths, and our recommended salad dressing. It pairs perfectly with butter as miso butter, as well as in hollandaise sauce and miso mayonnaise.

Tip: This is our second recommendation for miso newbies – lupin miso is a good start into the miso world.

Miso with spices, based on rice miso

Mediterranean Miso is ideal for all Mediterranean dishes, including Italian pasta, tomato sauce, fish dishes, antipasti, appetizers, and salads. The miso contains oregano, thyme, and basil. These spices intensify with age, meaning they are very strong. To prevent the natural flavor of the ingredients from overpowering them, we recommend using it sparingly or blending it with a milder miso.

The Ginger Curry Miso lives up to its name. A distinctive, slightly fruity flavor, perfect for pumpkin cream soup, but also for currywurst, all kinds of rice dishes, and vegetables (e.g., leeks, carrots, celery).

Our Mexican Chili Miso is pleasantly spicy, adding a good base flavor to any dish. It's a very mild, pleasant seasoning for everyone. Ideal for robust tomato sauces, it's a classic for (spicy) barbecue sauces (miso, tomato paste, mustard, vinegar, oil, water) and pasta dishes.

Miso Mare with Seaweed is particularly rich in umami; we boil the broth from kombu seaweed and add it to the miso. It also contains cooked and chopped seaweed (wakame, sea spaghetti, dulse). It's therefore ideal for fitness salads, fish dishes, and any dish that requires a particularly strong flavor.

Tip: The classic for miso soup

Special Miso

In addition to our four classics, we are always developing new combinations for you.

Miso Intense , a blend of different miso varieties, is characterized by an intense umami flavor. The composition varies between individual batches.

Tip: Basically, all miso varieties enhance each other, so mixing the individual pastes brings even more flavor.

Our Alblinsen Buckwheat Miso imparts a slightly earthy flavor, making it a perfect accompaniment to game, mushroom, and braised dishes. The lentils and buckwheat come from the Swabian Alb.

The sweet wholegrain miso (made from wholegrain rice and soybeans) is characterized by a full-bodied chocolate-caramel flavor and therefore harmonizes perfectly with savory dishes, dark sauces, and sparingly in dessert variations.

Violet miso with fresh Keltenhof violets and a lupin miso base is perfect for fresh spring and summer dishes. Perfect for miso hollandaise, miso butter with asparagus, grilled vegetables, and meat.

The BBQ miso is based on our soy miso and also contains black pepper, chili, cane sugar, and smoked paprika. It's ideal when combined with mustard, tomatoes and tomato paste, water, vinegar, and oil—as a barbecue sauce or marinade.

Anyone using Claudia Zaltenbach's MISO cookbook will come across Japanese miso terms. These are briefly explained below, along with a reference to the appropriate Black Forest miso alternative.

Aka Miso is comparable to our rice miso, although the traditional ratio is 70% soybeans and 30% rice, with a salt content of 13%.

A chunky miso that still contains pieces of soy and rice is Inca Miso . It has no defined mixing ratio and is typically made in private households. We recommend our Rice Miso.

Shiro miso is a miso with a very high rice content of over 80% and only a small amount of soybeans. It is only aged for a short time – about three weeks. Longer-aged miso is often referred to as Shinshu miso . We recommend our Lupin Miso, which is aged significantly longer but is a perfect substitute due to its light color and sweet, floral flavor.

Mugi miso is the same as our barley miso, except that barley is used instead of rice. The mixing ratio remains the same.

Genmai miso refers to miso made with brown rice instead of hulled rice. This is the equivalent of our sweet whole-grain miso.

Awase miso is a miso blend made from a variety of misos. We offer a similar product in our range: MISO Intense.

Miso made entirely from soybeans and aged for a long time is called hacho miso . Our soy miso is a product of this kind.

Water-soluble

Miso paste is inherently water-soluble—it can be dissolved in water using a fork. Its water solubility is independent of temperature—the paste dissolves just as well in cold water as it does in hot.

Fat solubility

The paste is only slightly soluble in fats. However, it tastes excellent with butter, oil, cream, and yogurt. It's also popular in salad dressings—a mixture of miso, oil, and water.

An emulsion can be made from water and oil with a little soy lecithin or egg yolk, which is then mixed into the miso.

Flavor enhancers

Miso is a natural flavor enhancer (umami). This is due to the high glutamine content of miso paste. Glutamic acid, also found in tomatoes, enhances the natural flavor of almost all foods.

Application after cooking (standard method)

Our pastes can be used to flavor sauces at the end of the cooking time. We recommend using one teaspoon of miso paste per 0.1 liter of liquid. Miso adds depth to any dish and enhances the natural flavor of all the ingredients – without overpowering the taste.

Use in cooking

For dishes that require a very long cooking time, the miso can be dissolved in the liquid at the beginning. The recommended amount is the same here. This creates a depth of flavor similar to braising (a combined cooking method of searing followed by a long cooking time in liquid), which often takes several hours.

Use as a dressing

To do this, mix half a teaspoon of miso paste with the same amount of oil, vinegar, and cold water. This mixture makes a delicious salad dressing—the fat droplets will be visible. It can be emulsified with mustard or an emulsifier (soy lecithin). Miso-based dressings are delicious and lighter than cream or yogurt sauces.

Use as a marinade

Miso is suitable as a marinade for meat, fish, and meat substitutes. We generally recommend rice miso (general), soy miso (dark meat), and lupin miso (white meat, fish).

Using miso has two advantages here. The meat becomes tender and soft, the miso significantly enhances its flavor, and the whole thing becomes easier to digest. This effect is achieved after 10 minutes of soaking and becomes more pronounced with longer soaking times. For meat, we recommend 2 hours. Any excess marinade must be removed before grilling, as it turns black at high temperatures.

Use as soup

Miso paste is the basis of miso soup. Unlike almost all recipes, adding dashi (seaweed and tuna flakes) is not necessary. This is the classic Japanese version of miso soup.

Many of our customers drink MISO soup on its own: just MISO paste and hot water – as an energy drink in the morning and as a pick-me-up between meals. They swap a cup of coffee a day for a cup of MISO broth. It can also be combined with vegetables, noodles, meat, fish, and tofu to create delicious soups and Japanese ramen.

The miso paste is freeze-dried, creating a concentrated powder (the water content evaporates), which is very economical to use as a table spice or as a seasoning. When seasoning with the powder, a pinch is often enough. The powder can also be used as a quick powder-based miso soup on vacation or in everyday business life. However, it is less economical when combined with water than miso paste. The big advantage is that it doesn't form lumps, and the powder can be used in high doses for specific purposes.

The taste of miso is often described as umami. Along with salty, sweet, bitter, and sour, umami describes a rounded and balanced flavor—the kind that usually only develops after long cooking processes. With miso, it's possible to achieve this flavor quickly and vegan-friendly.