What is Saikyo Shiromiso
There are many types of miso indigenous to regions across Japan, such as Saikyo Shiromiso, Sendai miso, Shinshu miso, Haccho miso, and the barley miso of Kyushu and Shikoku. The smooth, elegantly pale, cream-colored Saikyo Shiromiso is characterized by its mild and lightly salty, full-bodied taste.
In Kyoto, the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years, an elegant dynasty culture flourished, and the white, sweet Saikyo Shiromiso was an important part of the hare ceremonies and Shinto rituals that took place within the palace. In those times, it was a flavoring (sweetener) that was mildly sweet and suppressed
saltiness due to its generous use of rice, which was quite valuable at the time. In the palace, the miso was treated as a delicacy rather than prized for its preservability, and it evolved and became refined along with Kyoto cuisine, which is a combination of the nobility’s haute cuisine, the tea-ceremony cuisine, and Zen Buddhist vegetarian cuisine.
Today, the taste of Saikyo Shiromiso has matured and the miso is brewed as one of the must-have flavorings in Kyoto cuisine. During the Warring States Period, Sendai miso, which was specially fermented in cellars by the Date Clan (led by Date Masamune),
and Shinshu miso, which was made along the route of battle (main roads), were both developed as war rations to supply salt that could be kept for a long time was high in nutrients.
In Kyushu and Shikoku, the warm climate was utilized to make barley after harvesting the rice, and the harvested barley was used to produce a large quantity of barley miso.
As described above, various miso traditions (cuisines) developed with the history, culture, and climate of each region, and a wide variety of miso can be sampled even today. One such miso is our staple product, Saikyo Shiromiso.
