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.

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.

Steve

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.

--
Dan

Dan wrote on Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:01:29 -0500:

DL> 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.

DL> That can work, but to me it sounds like you're using too
DL> many salty items. I would mox fish sauce with miso, since
DL> you pretty much kill them miso flavor at that point.

Another possibility that bears looking into is to visit a
Chinese supermarket if you can. My favorite one has about 15
different varieties of miso with quite a range of salt content.
Incidentally, I think "paste" is redundant; it's just miso :-)

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland.

la gripa colombiana schrieb:

> 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.

Try the Korean version ("doenjang"), it's less salty.

Bye, Sanne.

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.

sanne wrote...
> la gripa colombiana schrieb:
>
>
>>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.
>
>
> Try the Korean version ("doenjang"), it's less salty.

Thanks! I'm going to San Francisco on Saturday, so I'll see if I can
find it in Chinatown or maybe on Clement. I can't say I remember
seeing any Korean items at Lion; I remember China, Taiwan, Vietnam,
Indonesia, Japan, and of course almost every item I wind up buying is
Thai.

la gripa colombiana schrieb:

> sanne wrote...

> > Try the Korean version ("doenjang"), it's less salty.
>
> Thanks!

You're welcome.
I've got both kinds here and just tried a little - to me, it is less
salty, but that's only mho. It depends on the brand, too. Ask!

> I'm going to San Francisco on Saturday, so I'll see if I can
> find it in Chinatown or maybe on Clement.

Look for "�장" on the packages - print that out, write it down,
whatever. ;-)

Good luck!

Bye, Sanne.

In article > ,
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.

Wouldn't the quantity used come into play? Too salty? Use less.

Hoisin with fish sauce? What are you thinking?

James Silverton <not.jim.siverton.at.comcast.not> writes:

> Another possibility that bears looking into is to visit a
> Chinese supermarket if you can. My favorite one has about 15
> different varieties of miso with quite a range of salt content.


I thought miso was Japanese, not Chinese. I've never seen miso
soup on the menu at a Chinese restaurant, not heard it mentioned
in the context of Chinese cuisine.



Geoff

--
"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.
Had this been an actual emergency, you'd be writhing on the ground in
unspeakable agony, bleeding from every orifice, with your blackened skin
falling away in ragged strips."

Geoff wrote on 14 Jan 2006 10:44:41 -0800:

??>> Another possibility that bears looking into is to visit a
??>> Chinese supermarket if you can. My favorite one has about
??>> 15 different varieties of miso with quite a range of salt
??>> content.

GM> I thought miso was Japanese, not Chinese. I've never seen
GM> miso soup on the menu at a Chinese restaurant, not heard it
GM> mentioned in the context of Chinese cuisine.

GM> Geoff

So :-). I have never seen a "Chinese" supermarket in the US that
let chauvinism stand in the way of commerce. My favorite one, in
addition to the multiplicity of varieties of miso, has a good
range of Japanese and Filippino stuff.

James Silverton.
Potomac, Maryland.

Geoff wrote on 14 Jan 2006 10:44:41 -0800:

??>> Another possibility that bears looking into is to visit a
??>> Chinese supermarket if you can. My favorite one has about
??>> 15 different varieties of miso with quite a range of salt
??>> content.

GM> I thought miso was Japanese, not Chinese. I've never seen
GM> miso soup on the menu at a Chinese restaurant, not heard it
GM> mentioned in the context of Chinese cuisine.

Your comment inspired me to go to what is considered the "bible"
of Miso by many: Shurtleff and Aoyagi, "The Book of Miso". They
mention Chinese miso referred to as chiang, pronounced "jiang".
It was known well over 2000 years ago in China and spread from
there to Japan. Apparently, the term "bean paste" is also used
there and Hoisin sauce "hoisin chiang") can be considered a
variety of that! There are many other flavored types in
addition.

All the best!


James Silverton.

James Silverton <not.jim.siverton.at.comcast.not> writes:

> I have never seen a "Chinese" supermarket in the US that
> let chauvinism stand in the way of commerce.


Chauvinism has nought to do with it. "Chinese market" implies
that the business focuses on foodstuffs that are part of Chinese
cuisine, since that's presumably what would appeal to the place's
target clientele. I'd no more expect to find Japanese food in a
Chinese market than I would Chinese food in a Korean one.

Maybe you're using "Chinese" as shorthand for "pan-Oriental?"



Geoff

--
"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.
Had this been an actual emergency, you'd be writhing on the ground in
unspeakable agony, bleeding from every orifice, with your blackened skin
falling away in ragged strips."

Steve Wertz > writes:

: I'd no more expect to find Japanese food in a
: Chinese market than I would Chinese food in a Korean one.

> You haven't shopped many Asian stores, then.


Nope. I pretty much just eat white people food at home.

Then again, there was that time I asked about tako in a
Chinese market, and as directed to the Taco Bell down the
street, so apparently this pan-Orientalism isn't a universal
feature of Chinese, etc., markets.



Geoff

--
"It is December 10,000, 1969 in Santa Cruz." -- Don Steiny

wrote:
> Steve Wertz > writes:
>
> : I'd no more expect to find Japanese food in a
> : Chinese market than I would Chinese food in a Korean one.
>
> > You haven't shopped many Asian stores, then.
>
> Nope. I pretty much just eat white people food at home.
>
> Then again, there was that time I asked about tako in a
> Chinese market, and as directed to the Taco Bell down the
> street, so apparently this pan-Orientalism isn't a universal
> feature of Chinese, etc., markets.
>
Tako is the Japanese name for octopus. You might have done better if you
had asked using the Chinese name, sui gwai, or just asked about octopus.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
their families:
http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !

> writes:

> Tako is the Japanese name for octopus. You might have done better if you
> had asked using the Chinese name, sui gwai, or just asked about octopus.


I'm sure that's true, but it isn't the point. A previous poster said,
essentially, that pretty much all Oriental markets carry foodstuffs
from all Oriental cuisines, whatever their nominal national special-
ization may be. After all, miso is Japanese, and at least two people
have said that one could find this *Japanese* foodstuff under its
*Japanese* name in *Chinese* markets. So it isn't unreasonable to
conclude that one should also be able to also ask for octopus by its
Japanese name in a Chinese market, nest-say poss?

Besides, the Chinese term for octopus, "sui gwai," isn't exactly
a household term like "tako" and other sushi-oriented (heh) terms
are, right? Right. In fact, I've been eating sushi for twenty-
five years or thereabouts, and I never even encountered the Chi-
nese term for octopus until I read your follow-up to my article.



Geoff




>--
>Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
>their families:
>http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
>
>Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !


--
"It is December 10,000, 1969 in Santa Cruz." -- Don Steiny

wrote:
> > writes:
>
> > Tako is the Japanese name for octopus. You might have done better if
> > you had asked using the Chinese name, sui gwai, or just asked about
> > octopus.
>
> I'm sure that's true, but it isn't the point. A previous poster said,
> essentially, that pretty much all Oriental markets carry foodstuffs
> from all Oriental cuisines, whatever their nominal national special-
> ization may be. After all, miso is Japanese, and at least two people
> have said that one could find this *Japanese* foodstuff under its
> *Japanese* name in *Chinese* markets. So it isn't unreasonable to
> conclude that one should also be able to also ask for octopus by its
> Japanese name in a Chinese market, nest-say poss?
>
> Besides, the Chinese term for octopus, "sui gwai," isn't exactly
> a household term like "tako" and other sushi-oriented (heh) terms
> are, right? Right. In fact, I've been eating sushi for twenty-
> five years or thereabouts, and I never even encountered the Chi-
> nese term for octopus until I read your follow-up to my article.

Octopus isn't just for sushi. It's called "polpo" in Italian and used a lot
in Sicily and other coastal areas. I've been eating in sushi bars since the
60's and have never encountered a Chinese sushi chef. I ate at a Thai
operated sushi bar in Miami once some years back, where no one understood a
word of Japanese. All the dishes were named in English. I said 'once'. ;-)

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
their families:
http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !