Dan Logcher wrote...
> Steve Pope wrote:
>
>> la gripa colombiana > wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I recently bought miso paste for the first time and love it. My
>>> problem with just about every Asian seasoning is that it is WAY
>>> too salty. And I'm someone who loves salt, but by the time you
>>> get done funking up the hoisin sauce with soy and fish sauce and
>>> perhaps miso or whatever, it becomes incredibly salty.
>>>
>>> So my question is why there are few low-sodium versions? For
>>> example, fish sauce is preserved with salt, but surely a fresh
>>> refrigerated version could use much less or no salt. But I
>>> read that salt is important in miso production to slow the
>>> fermentation and allow the flavor to develop. I assume soy
>>> sauce is salty for the same reason.
>>>
>>> So I could ask whether something can substitute for the salt in
>>> soy fermentation, maybe some exotic growth regulator or perhaps
>>> a change in pH, etc. While not traditional, surely something
>>> can be found to allow the full flavor of these products to
>>> develop using so much less salt.
>>
>>
>>
>> One possibility is to slice up some potatoes, boil them in the miso
>> soup, then fish out the potatoes and discard them.
>> According to folk wisdom they will soak up excess salt.
>
>
> That can work, but to me it sounds like you're using too many
> salty items. I would mox fish sauce with miso, since you pretty
> much kill them miso flavor at that point.

That was just an example, or maybe my Thai rice pastes seasoning pastes,
though delicious I always feel compelled to add a bit of fish and soy
sauces.

Back to miso, I take it to work because the microwaves are always in use
and I put two tablespoons of miso with some tofu mashed in into a 16oz
styrofoam cup, then there's a hot water dispenser on the coffee machine
that I use to reconstitute it and I have an instant cheap and filling
snack. That tofu stuff is really cool, I like it mashed because then
its texture blends into whatever you are eating.