Miso Drops Developer Seeks To Save Japan Artisanal Brewers

Alarmed by the gradual disappearance of small-scale miso breweries that have been a key part of Japan's tradition of fermented foods, an entrepreneur is on a mission to save such enterprises with her "miso drops" invention -- balls of the soybean paste made the old-fashioned way that can be easily made into individual soup servings for busy but health-conscious consumers, Maya Kaneko reported for Kyodo News late.

Photo Insert: Motomi Takahashi, developer of "miso drops" balls for individual soup servings using soybean paste produced in traditional miso breweries in Japan, shows a box of the products

The products are the brainchild of Motomi Takahashi, who was won over to the dietary benefits of miso made using traditional techniques when she was recovering from an illness that led her to undergo surgery in 2016.

The miso drops, produced by hand and sold in sets of various quantities, are flavored with soup stock derived from vegetables. Users can make soup by just adding hot water, stirring, and waiting for 30 seconds.

Even though easy-to-make miso soup products abound in Japan, they use soybean paste mass-produced at factories. According to Takahashi, their flavors lack the richness of miso matured over the long haul in traditional wooden barrels at small breweries, which are often family-run enterprises handed down across the generations.

"When I was recovering from the illness, I happened to get miso from a brewery in Tokushima Prefecture as a gift and drank soup made from it every day. I was shocked to learn the difference in taste from that of instant products and got well very quickly," she said.

Takahashi said she was under heavy stress due to hard work as a public relations officer months before she developed her illness, with weakened digestive and immune systems.

Fermented foods are produced or preserved through the activity of microorganisms, with the processes usually involving yeast or bacteria, and are considered to be beneficial to health by improving gut flora. In miso production, the "koji" mold, which is also utilized by soy sauce, sake, and shochu makers, is used to ferment soybeans.

After becoming convinced of the role miso played in her recovery from illness, Takahashi studied koji at a nutrition school and struck upon the idea of starting a business to promote the foodstuff and Japan's dietary culture of fermentation.

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