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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 12, 2004 The Kitchen Coach Miso: The healthiest of foods Rebecca Wood Today's soy foods correctly rank as being both the healthiest and the shoddiest* of foods. It's useful to discern the difference. The undeniably most medicinal soy food is miso. Current scientific research now supports its historical health claims. This delicious food is an effective therapeutic aid in the prevention and treatment of heart disease, certain cancers, radiation sickness and hypertension. Miso soup consumption is linked with up to a 50 percent reduced risk of breast cancer according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Miso making has been considered an art form for several centuries in Japan. Through a special double-fermentation process, soybeans and grains are transformed into a wondrous seasoning agent with potent healing properties. Miso has a texture similar to peanut butter and is available in a vast range of delicious flavors ranging from meaty and savory to sweet and delicate. While you'll most often find miso in soup, where it serves as a rich and flavorful bouillon, it is also used in sauces, dressings and even some desserts. John and Jan Belleme, the country's leading authorities on miso, have just written "The Miso Book: The Art of Cooking with Miso." Some years ago, I enjoyed the good fortune of visiting the Bellemes and feasting upon their own handmade miso. They'd recently returned from a eight-month Japanese apprenticeship with miso master Takamichi Onozaki. Thanks to their efforts, we now have available domestic miso made and aged using time-honored methods. These methods include, for example, aging miso for up to eighteen months. Just as you can taste the difference between a fine and cheap wine, you can readily taste and appreciate the difference between a quality miso and a pasteurized, high-tech miso that uses added enzyme extracts to shorten its fermentation cycle. Look for organic miso that states on the label that it was naturally aged in wood using traditional Japanese techniques. I also used to make my own miso from scratch but today appreciate being able to buy quality miso from the refrigerated or ethnic sections of natural food stores. The sweetest tasting misos are yellow or beige in color, sweet and light in flavor and impart an almost diary-like creamy flavor. They seem especially suited to Western-style comfort foods like mashed potatoes and cream soups, whereas the more salty, savory misos are dark red or brown, have aged longer, and impart an Asian flavor. My current favorite is a soy-free miso made of chickpeas. But I always have on hand the most medicinal variety, hatcho, which is unusual in that it's 100 percent soy. Although it's as dark as dark chocolate, you'd never confuse the two. Whenever my energy is low, immune system is challenged, or before and after X-ray exposure, it's hatcho that goes into my soup. At home, refrigerate miso in an airtight container. Use the light-colored miso within nine months and dark miso within eighteen months. Packets of additive-free, freeze-dried instant miso soup are available in natural food stores and are a good convenience item. They are also great for travel. Miso is a superior source of usable whole protein, for it contains all eight essential amino acids. Miso's protein content ranges from 12 to 20 percent, depending upon the variety. It is also low in fat. Whether you and miso are old friends, or about to become new friends, I recommend "The Miso Book" to you. Its 140 miso-containing recipes offer some innovative and tasty dishes. Here's a recipe I've adapted from it. * Note: Soy foods to avoid are high-tech products like soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein, a.k.a. TVP. Creamy Squash-Coconut Soup Serves 4 Adding coconut milk to an otherwise classic miso soup recipe intensifies its rich, sweet flavor. When using a yellow or red colored and tender-skinned squash, like butternut or red kuri, you may leave its skin intact. (Trim and discard, however, any tough or warty pieces.) It will soften, blend right into the soup and yield more flavor and nutrients. If fully pureed, a green-skinned squash detracts from the soup's beautiful golden color. 1 tablespoon sesame or coconut oil 1 cinnamon stick 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 3 cups cubed butternut squash 1 large onion, diced 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk Pinch of sea salt 3 tablespoons sweet light miso Freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, lightly toasted Warm the oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Add the cinnamon stick, ginger and turmeric and saut� for 1 minute. Add the squash and onion and saut� for 5 minutes or until the vegetables soften. Add the coconut milk, 2 1/2 cups water and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the squash is tender. Remove the cinnamon stick. Place the miso and 1/4 cup of soup broth in a small bowl and puree with a fork. Add the puree to the soup and simmer for 1 minute, taking care to not let the soup boil. Season with pepper. Adjust seasonings and remove from the heat. Lightly puree the soup using a potato masher. Or fully puree the soup in a blender or food processor, taking care to not burn yourself. Divide the soup between four bowls and garnish each bowl with 1 tablespoon of shredded coconut, placing the remainder of the coconut on the table to pass around. Local author Rebecca Wood is a personal chef and offers individual Kitchen Coaching. Her book, "The Splendid Grain," won both Julia Child and James Beard Cookbook awards. You may reach Rebecca or visit her many recipes and articles, at www.rwood.com. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams