White miso
rice-kōji soybean paste (shiro miso) · Condiment
Top 10 pairings
White miso — shiro miso — is the pale, sweet, mellow end of the miso family: soybeans fermented with a high proportion of rice kōji, a low dose of salt and only a short ageing of weeks to a few months. That recipe leaves it ivory to pale gold, lightly sweet and gentle rather than salty or funky. It is the everyday all-rounder — the mildest common miso — reached for in light miso soup, dressings, marinades, sauces and the sweet saikyō glazes brushed on fish and vegetables.
Picking a good onedrag
Sealed, even, sweet-maltyFuzzy, sour, off
Open and in useEveryday bestKeep it cold and take clean spoonfuls. Whisk it into soup off the heat, and salt the dish only after it's in.
Smell at the open tubSavoury core clean, caramel flat
The surface in the tubWhite film or dark top: skim it
The paste on a spoonCoarse, or liquid on top: stir it in
Read the tubBlend or no grain named: everyday
These cues are Miso's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.