Minemura Jozo Echigo Miso Classic Red Miso (峰村醸造 復刻仕込 越後味噌クラシック)

The story behind it

In 1905, the first-generation Minemura Chuzo began brewing miso in Nuttari, Niigata City, a district where breweries once stood side by side.

This Classic goes back to the starting point of Echigo miso. The soybeans are not boiled. They are all steamed. Boiling lets the savory character of the bean leach into the water, while steaming keeps it inside the bean. It takes more work, but this is how Echigo miso was made at the founding.

The soybeans are grown in Niigata Prefecture. Because aging starts from a base that has held onto that depth, the result has the concentration you expect from a red miso.

Echigo miso is usually described through the sweetness of rice koji, fitting for rice country. But before that came a practical question: how do you keep from losing the flavor of the bean? Restoring an old recipe is less about nostalgia than about checking why it was done that way.