Nihon Chomiryo Tabi
Maruhide Shoyu Jikkoku Ten-Grain Miso (丸秀醤油 国産 十穀味噌)
The story behind it
Miso is normally brewed from soybeans with rice, or soybeans with barley. This one adds ten kinds of grain.
It is made by Maruhide Shoyu in Saga, a brewery known for Shizen Ichi Shoyu, brewed over two years. The same insistence on knowing where the raw materials come from carries into the miso: every grain is grown in Japan.
More kinds of grain means more layers of sweetness and aroma. Instead of the straight line you get from a single grain, there is a mixed complexity. That is why a miso soup made with it rarely feels thin even when you go light on the dashi.
Kyushu miso tends to be sweet, but here the sweetness comes from the quantity of grain rather than from added sugar.
How to use it
Make a miso soup with restrained dashi and taste the sweetness of the grains. It also works spread straight onto vegetable sticks, or as a miso marinade for chicken or pork.