DashiDashi

Who’s up for a miso tasting?

Out went the Twitter call and, after the mandatory scheduling kerfuffle that comes with getting eight or so Londoners to the same place at the same time on any given day, we duly descending on the home of Helen (Fuss Free Flavours) to demolish her stash of Clearspring miso products.

There was dried miso, unpasteurised miso, miso bouillon (eh?), miso relish — where on earth to start?

Powdered miso soups/bouillon: These were the weakest of the lot for me. Perhaps due to the vegan outlook of the brand, these soups seemed to lack the umami hit I was expecting, possibly due to the missing katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) normally used in the base dashi stock for miso soup. A passable substitute for vegetable stock, though beware of the fairly high salt levels.Sweet White Miso: The star of the evening, though milder that most white miso pastes in the Japanese supermarket. Perfect for using as a dip, straight out of the packet. Definitely a contender for a quick and easy nasu-dengaku (miso-coated aubergine) recipe too.Barley / Brown Rice Miso: Not my favourites of the bunch, with a slightly sour edge when tasted by itself as a paste. The back of the jars mentioned a possible use as a salt alternative, rather than necessarily for making miso soup.Miso Relish: My notes say ‘tastes a bit like ginger chicken sauce’. In that case, I’d say give it go when marinading meats.Organic Tofu: This is the first organic tetra-packed tofu I’ve seen on offer in the UK. Texture-wise: delicate with a very slight grainy-ness, but not unpleasantly so. Tofu purists might complain about this, but if you care about non-GM and organic products, their tofu should definitely be on your next shopping list.Organic Japanese Rice Crackers with Tamari: Infinitely more-ish. Yum.

Reading about Clearspring’s producers on their website, I was surprised to find that many (at least for the miso) are based in Japan, and use a range of traditional methods of production. Given their presence in the UK supermarkets and their non-Japanese organic food ranges, I’d assumed most of the products were made in the UK. Call me a sucker for stories of eight generations of miso-makers, but it did make me curious to give the miso pastes another go (though not the powdered packet soups, I’m afraid).

Now, who’s hosting the next soy sauce tasting?

Incidentally, I’ve received an email announcing that Clearspring are having a warehouse sale in Acton on Saturday 28th May. Many products 25% off, with big discounts on short-dated products.