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Posted On: October 19th 2026, 05:04 pm
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Soybeans, salt and water. That is the entire ingredient list — no rice, no barley, which is unusual for miso.
A sheet of washi paper, dated December 6, 1721.
It records an unusual instruction: pack the barrel in three layers, each with a different amount of water and salt. Then stack three tons of river stones on top and leave it for two years.
The uneven packing is deliberate. The weight of the stones drives the moisture and salt through the layers, and the barrel evens out on its own. Nobody stirs it — not once.
They don’t sterilize the walls or the barrels either. The microbes stay in the wood and the clay and carry over into the next batch.
Our Umami Curator Ayako climbed to the top of a six-ton barrel in Okazaki to see it for herself.
This is why we visit.
A sheet of washi paper, dated December 6, 1721.
It records an unusual instruction: pack the barrel in three layers, each with a different amount of water and salt. Then stack three tons of river stones on top and leave it for two years.
The uneven packing is deliberate. The weight of the stones drives the moisture and salt through the layers, and the barrel evens out on its own. Nobody stirs it — not once.
They don’t sterilize the walls or the barrels either. The microbes stay in the wood and the clay and carry over into the next batch.
Our Umami Curator Ayako climbed to the top of a six-ton barrel in Okazaki to see it for herself.
This is why we visit.
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