# Kinzanji miso ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Kinzanji miso

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Chubu area

## Main Ingredients Used
Rice, wheat, soybeans, vegetables such as eggplant, cucumber, ginger, and perilla

## History, Origin, and Related Events
In 1249, Kakushin (Houtou Kokushi), a high priest in Yura, learned how to make Kaizanji miso in Sou (China), where he had trained, and brought it back to Japan. When he built Koukokuji Temple, he introduced the method to Yuasa Town and the surrounding area, where the water quality was suitable for manufacturing miso and soy sauce, and it is said to have spread. It is believed to be the founder of soy sauce and miso. For the next 300 years or so, farmers made soy sauce for their own use, but in the Edo period (1603-1867), it came to the attention of the shogunate and was commercialized.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
In the old days, it was grown at home for private use. It is made with three kinds of koji (soybeans, barley, and rice) in the summer, when uri, eggplant, perilla, and ginger are in abundance. Because it can be stored for a long time, it is eaten all year round as "reserve greens. The type of vegetables to be pickled and the seasoning varies from store to store and from household to household, and each has its own special flavor.

## How to Eat
It is eaten as a side dish, not as a condiment, such as on rice, with grilled fish or sashimi, or as a side dish with sake. It also goes well with "chagayu," a local dish of Wakayama.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
From Yuasa Town to Gobo City, Kinzanji Miso is still made using the traditional method and sold as a local specialty.

## Ingredients
- White rice: 4 masu
- barley: 3 masu
- soybeans: 3 masu
- sugar: 3 kg
- salt: 1 sho
- Seed Koji: 1 bag
- Eggplant: 3-4 kg
- White melon: 3～4kg
- Soil ginger: 300-400g
- Shiso (Perilla frutescens): 400g
- white sesame seeds: 1 cup

## Recipe
1. 1. Day before: Wash white rice well and soak in water overnight.Day 1: Wash white wheat well and soak in warm water for about 2 hours.
2. 2. Day 1: Soybeans are soaked in water until hot, then soaked in water with the skin removed (about 30 minutes). (about 30 minutes)
3. 3. Day 1: Steam drained white rice (about 2 hours) and let the rice malt steep.
4. 4. Day 1: Drain the water from the white barley, mix it with the cooked soybeans, and steam (about 1 to 1.5 hours) to let the barley/soybean koji steep.
5. 5. Day 2: Wash vegetables well, cut into 1 cm slices, salt them with salt from a quantity of salt and place a light weight on them.
6. 6. Day 3: Wheat and soybean koji should be made in the morning, and rice koji should be made around noon. Put a pinch or two of salt in a piece of molobuta and leave it in a cool place.
7. 7. Day 3: Drain vegetables thoroughly. Put sesame seeds in a bowl. Cut ginger into thin strips, cut shiso into 1 cm pieces, sprinkle with salt and squeeze lightly.
8. 8. Day 3: Mix all the ingredients well and fill the vat tightly from the bottom. Serve 1 month later.

## Provider Information
provider : "Handmade Flavor Making the Most of Naga's Products" (Naga Agricultural Development and Extension Office (currently Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Promotion Division, Naga Promotion Bureau))

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