When working with miso paste, I normally spread the miso paste over my empty bowl. Then I ensure the soup is well below boiling temp when filling the bowl. This ensures that the probiotics are not killed. That’s my own process. I started doing that after reading similar advice: to add the miso to the pot last, after turning off the heat and letting the temp drop a bit.
For storage, I normally refrigerate the paste after opening. I don’t recall why.. whether it was pkg guidance or just intuition. Some random articles concur (ref 1, ref 2). Ref 1 actually says freezing it is sensible, but probably not good for the probiotics.
I bought a new kind of miso paste (imported from Japan), called “AKA MISO -- Maruman Nama Miso pak”. The suggested recipe on the pkg says to bring the pot to a boil, add the miso, return to the boil, then turn off the heat. So I have to wonder: is the supplier unaware of the health benefits¹ probiotics? Or might there something in the paste that’s risky if not dead?
Along the same lines, there is no mention of refrigeration on the pkg. It just says to consume before the date which is about 1 year out. Does that mean it remains shelf-stable after opening? Or is it just stable enough if it’s cooked to death? I suspect the importer botched the label and forgot to add “refrigerate after opening”.
Ingredients: water, 29% soybean, rice, salt, alcohol. I was surprised at alcohol. Would that kill the probiotics?
¹ Certain gut bacteria is essential for health. But I hear that there is no evidence that probiotic food actually has health benefits. I think someone in c/cooking said that. I’m merely speculating that in the absence of research, probiotics are more likely to bring health benefits than notable risks.
Any miso I've bought has come out of the refrigerated section of the store. Those instructions might just be because many people want miso for the flavor and the potential probiotics aren't really a factor in motivating their use. In Asia, a lot of fermented vegetables are cooked which obviously kills the probiotics but this is another example that sometimes we do things just for the flavor
That might be uncommon. I’ve lived in a couple different countries and bought it from a few different shops and it’s always on the shelf. I suppose if miso paste is slow to move in one shop, they would be inclined to refrigerate it.
Hmm, yeah, maybe. Although I don’t imagine flavor would be compromised in keeping it alive. I would hope the makers of the stuff would know the product they are selling and have a higher competency.. which is what motivated my question. I wondered if the probiotics were simply thought to not give any notable benefit.
If it is living miso with probiotics it would need to be refrigerated, all those miso brands say it need to be refrigerated.
If it is shelf stable it does not have any living probiotics and is just for flavor