Awa no Kuni Rice Miso (阿波の国)

The story behind it

Tanaka Tokubei Shoten began in 1871 as a miso brewery in Kawaguchi, Saitama. Today the company no longer brews its own miso. Instead it selects miso from breweries across Japan, buys it, and brings it to customers. At Misogura Tokubei, its shop on the second basement floor of Matsuya Ginza, you can taste what is on the counter and buy it by weight from 100g.

Awa no Kuni is one of those miso, made in Tokushima from rice. The shop describes it as a miso that balances the natural sweetness of koji against a clean acidity produced by yeast and lactic acid bacteria. The koji ratio is about 18, the salt content about 11.0%, and it is aged for roughly 150 days or more. It is a sweet-leaning red miso, left unsmoothed so the grains remain.

The shop files this miso under a label it calls Zuisho. Products in that group are made entirely from Japanese ingredients, produced locally, and made without additives. Both the soybeans and the rice are grown in Japan.

Choosing miso does not have to start with learning the numbers. At 100g, you can try it and still use it up.