Miso Types: White, Yellow, Red and Hatcho Miso Explained

How miso is made

To make miso, producers boil or steam soybeans, mash them and mix them with salt and koji. The mass then matures in barrels or tanks. The koji mold breaks down starch and protein, which forms the sugars and amino acids you taste as umami.

Two variables decide the result. Plenty of koji and a short aging time give a pale, sweet paste. Less koji, more salt and long aging turn the miso dark and make it more savory. The koji base sorts miso into three families:

• Kome miso with rice koji, the most common type in Japan
• Mugi miso with barley koji, a little coarser and malty
• Mame miso made from soybeans only, dark and robust

The main types of miso at a glance

White miso (shiro miso)

Shiro miso ages briefly and contains a lot of rice koji. It has a pale, beige color and tastes mild, slightly sweet and only moderately salty. An especially sweet variety is Saikyo miso from the Kyoto region, which cooks there use for fish marinades. White miso suits dressings, dips, light soups and vegetables.

Yellow miso (Shinshu miso)

Yellow miso originally comes from Nagano Prefecture. In color and flavor it sits between white and red and works as an all-rounder for miso soup, sauces and marinades. When a recipe just says "miso," yellow miso is rarely the wrong pick.

Red miso (aka miso)

Aka miso ages much longer, often a year or more. The color ranges from reddish brown to dark brown, and the taste is salty, deep and slightly sour. Red miso carries strong broths, braises and meat marinades.

Hatcho miso

Hatcho miso comes from Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture and belongs to the mame miso family. It is made from soybeans and salt only, ages for a long time weighed down by stones, and turns almost blackish brown and firm. It tastes robust, slightly bitter and very concentrated. You need only a little, and it mixes well with lighter miso.

Awase miso

Awase means "blended." Producers combine light and dark miso into a balanced paste. Many packages at the Asian grocery store that just say "miso" are awase miso.

Which miso for which dish?

For a classic miso soup with shiitake and tofu, use yellow or blended miso. Red miso goes well with shellfish, so try it in the miso soup with clams. For a strong ramen seasoning, stir red and light miso together, as in the miso tare for miso ramen with chashu.

Sweet white miso caramelizes nicely on vegetables, for example in nasu dengaku. In miso butter and in the mustard dip nuta, light miso tastes best too. For the hearty pork soup butajiru, a stronger one is fine.

One rule for soups: stir the miso into the hot broth only at the end and do not let it boil hard afterward. Otherwise the miso loses aroma. Dissolve the paste in a ladle of broth first so no lumps remain.

Substituting miso

The easiest swap is one type of miso for another. If you use red instead of white miso, cut the amount by about a third and add a pinch of sugar or a little mirin. Going the other way, you need more white miso and may have to add salt.

Korean doenjang is also a fermented soybean paste, but it tastes coarser, saltier and funkier. For stews and marinades the swap works, for a delicate Japanese miso soup less so. Soy sauce alone supplies salt and umami, but not the creamy body.

Allergens and intolerances

Miso contains soy. Barley miso (mugi) contains gluten, and some rice miso blends can contain barley or wheat too. If you avoid gluten, check the ingredient list. Miso is high in salt, so keep that in mind when you season the rest of the dish.

Buying and storage

You can find yellow and white miso in many well-stocked supermarkets and in organic shops, often in the refrigerated section. The widest choice, including red miso, hatcho miso and Saikyo miso, is at Asian grocery stores and online shops for Japanese food. Look at the ingredient list: good miso needs only soybeans, salt, koji and possibly water. Some instant pastes already contain dashi or flavor enhancers, which you can spot from the note "with dashi."

After opening, miso belongs in the fridge. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface so it does not dry out. Thanks to the high salt content, miso keeps there for many months. It darkens over time and tastes a bit stronger. That is normal and not a sign of spoilage. Always scoop the paste out with a clean, dry spoon.