Miso, a Japanese invention, is made by combining soybeans, grains and sea salt, and fermenting and aging the mixture in barrels. The result is a powerful paste that can vary from buttery shiro(white) misos to medium-bodied shinshu(yellow) misos to beefy, pungent aka( red) varieties. Generally speaking, the darker in color the miso, the saltier and more pungent it tastes.
When I was little, my mother used to tell me not to boil miso soup, but simmering. I had no idea why and I have been doing exactly what she told me. Since I moved to the U.K., I had some oppourtunities to introduce miso soup to British people so I did some research for explanation. Then I found how nutritious Miso is and why my mum used to tell me so.
1. It’s good for your guts.
Miso contains a particular strain of probiotics that supports your gut’s natural good-bug bad-bug balance.
2. There’s nothing like miso in the world. It’s super nutritioius!
The main ingredients of miso, soybeans are high in protein and the fermentation process creates more amino acids. As a result, it’s contains all 9 essential aminoacids, vitamins( vitaminB1, B2, B6, B12, E, K, C, D), minerals( potassium, sodium, Iron, Magnesium, Cobalamin, Calcium) , fibre and carb.
If we boil miso soup over 50 degrees C, most of those nutrients would be gone.