Once a year I clean out my fridge of old jars of miso paste. I gather up the remnants from a variety of containers, scrap off any mold, and add this to a combination of ground root vegetables. After cooking for several hours, the end result is a wonderful savory condiment, Tekka.

Tekka- miso condiment.

Finding a recipe online is an easy task, and most that come up on a web search are nearly identical in ingredients and method. I use burdock and lotus roots, carrot, ginger and sesame seeds. These are ground fine, sautéd in sesame oil, then the miso is added and the mixture is cooked and stirred all day on very, very low heat.

Tekka on delicata squash.

The end result is a rich tasting, deep brown granular sprinkle, and great on eggs, salads, mashed potatoes, and much more.

Tekka on fried eggs.

This miso paste ferment is an experiment using all raw ingredients.

2# 6oz. raw black-eyed peas (soaked and chopped)

2# 8oz. raw barley koji

7.2 oz. salt

Lima bean miso starter (blended in water and strained)

First the koji.  I soaked pearled barley over night, and it puffs up all swollen and soft.  I sifted spores from a previous batch of barley koji into a hotel pan, and tossed the raw soaked barley around in the spores coating them thoroughly.  Then I incubated them at 85° F for 48 hours. (There are many already-published incubation methods for koji, and I won’t go into them here.)

Next the Black-eyed peas (BEP).  I soaked them for 24 hours.  They swell up big, too, and get fairly soft compared to many beans.  I pulsed them slightly with the S-blade in a Cuisinart™ until they were chopped medium.

I put 2 tablespoons of live lima bean miso (not raw) into a cup of water and blended thoroughly.  I let it sit for 20 minutes as the solids (cooked) settled to the bottom of the cup, and then poured off the liquid, which was full of bacteria from its own lacto-ferment.

I then blended the raw barley koji with the starter water, added half the salt, and then mixed this into the chopped BEP.  I packed it into a crock and put a plate and weight on top.  That was 14 months ago. ( I never added more than half the salt as it was salty enough without it to my taste preference.)

Here’s the BEP paste blended in the crock with an immersion blender. (Blending brings out lots of flavor.)

This fermented miso paste tastes much brighter than other BEP miso pastes I’ve made.  It is less complex on the palette, and the flavor of the BEP comes through very strong.  It is very delicious as a broth, and I have not yet experimented with it in any other dishes.

On making a cup of miso broth.

Boil good water. Fill a beautiful cup or mug with the boiling water to heat the vessel.  Once hot, pour the water back into the kettle.  (This cools the water in the kettle.)

Add miso paste and a little cold water, and stir to mix well.

Add hot water to bring temperature up to suite your palette, without killing the miso.

This miso paste is young, only 2 months, and is so delicious in a very different kind of way.  It is sweet and mild, full and very satisfying on the palette.  This is how I made this batch:

A spoonful of miso.

8# cooked garbanzo beans

7 # 6oz rice koji

4% sea salt (10 oz)

Garbanzo bean miso starter miso

(This filled 2 1-gallon crocks)

The tamairi is incredible but scant.  Sweet almost like honey, not too salty and so luxurious.

One of my favorite uses for sweet miso is pies and cobbler.  My daughter and I went u-picking blueberries yesterday.  Then I foraged in my garden for the ripest blackberries, and added three ripe apricots from the farmers market.

Other ingredients include:

Tapioca

Cardamom

Vanilla extract

And, of course, sweet garbanzo miso paste, which is the source of salt and a lot of yumminess (umami).

(Stir together and pour into a baking dish.)

The crust is simply almond meal, vanilla, safflower oil, and some sweet garbanzo miso.

(Mix together and crumble on top of the fruit.)

Bake @ 350 °F until fruit is bubbly and the crust is browned.

Naturally it’s gonna go well with some ice cream.