Miso

White miso, red miso and everything between

The colour of a miso paste tells you a lot about how it'll taste. White miso paste (shiro miso) ferments for a shorter time, sometimes just a few months. The result is pale, smooth and noticeably sweet. It works well in salad dressings, light broths and miso mayo, where you want umami without overpowering the other ingredients.

Red miso paste (aka miso) sits at the other end. It ferments for a year or more, which concentrates the flavour into something rich, salty and deeply savoury. Stir it into winter stews, brush it onto aubergine before grilling or use it as the base for a miso soup paste that really fills a room with aroma.

Between those two you'll find our barley miso (mugi miso), which has a thick, earthy warmth from the high proportion of barley used during fermentation. There's also hatcho miso, which is made purely from soybeans, aged for up to three years in cedarwood barrels, and has an intense, almost smoky character. And for something unexpected, try our yuzu miso, which adds a bright citrus lift to the deep, fermented base.

Every miso paste in our range is made in Japan using traditional techniques. Our Tsurumiso range is a reliable, well-rounded choice for everyday cooking. For our premium miso, we work with Kantoya in Kyoto, a producer renowned for hand-making their koji and ageing their miso with the kind of patience most makers can't afford. You'll taste the difference.

How to use miso paste in your cooking

Miso soup is the obvious starting point, and the best miso paste for soup depends on what you're after. White miso gives you a gentle, golden broth you can drink at breakfast. Red miso or hatcho miso creates something heavier and more satisfying. It is the kind of bowl that warms you from the inside on a cold evening. Dissolve a tablespoon into hot dashi stock, add tofu and wakame and you're done in minutes. Our miso soup kits include everything you need to get started.

Other than soup, miso paste works anywhere you want umami depth. Whisk white miso into a vinaigrette with rice vinegar and sesame oil for a dressing that clings to leaves. Spread red miso paste over salmon or cod before roasting. The sugars in the miso caramelise into a sticky, savoury-sweet crust. Stir a spoonful into a pasta sauce, a risotto or a batch of caramelised onions. Even a small amount changes the whole dish.

If you're new to cooking with miso, read our guide to what miso is and how it's made, or go deeper with our breakdown of the different types of miso.

And for those of you who prefer to watch what an expert has to say, we've asked chef Tim Anderson to help out by introducing a few of the Japanese cuisine staples, and the first of the Wasabi Bites Series is on miso: