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How to Make Miso & Kimchi

The Antakis make a variety of homemade fermented foods. Here are tips for making a couple of their favorites.

Miso. All misos are made with three ingredients: soybeans, koji and salt. Koji is the “substrate,” or fermentation medium. Rice or barley are fermented to become koji, which can be made from scratch or purchased at local health food stores. Ana purchases the cultures to ferment homemade koji from G.E.M. Cultures in California.

Rice Miso
13 ounces dry soybeans
11.1 ounces rice koji
9 tbsp sea salt
1 3/4 cups mixing liquid (from soybeans)

Soak soybeans overnight, then boil until beans are soft (about 3 hours), and save the liquid. Mix koji with soybeans and salt, then add liquid slowly to reach a consistency similar to peanut butter. Mash the miso.

This recipe will fit in a gallon-sized glass container. Before adding the miso, sprinkle sea salt on the container’s bottom and sides. Then sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt on top of the miso, an important step that prevents contamination. To press miso during fermentation, fill quart-size plastic bags with 2 pounds of sand for weights. Put unbleached parchment paper directly on the miso, then add 3 to 4 sand weights, and cover the container with muslin. You should keep the miso in a cool (not cold), dark place. Make sure to date each batch. The storage time determines the type of miso made and its flavor, which begins sweet and deepens with age. Ferment up to 18 months. Makes about 6 cups.

Kimchi. This popular Korean food has healthy, probiotic properties. In addition to brine, there are two parts to the basic kimchi recipe: the vegetables and the seasonings.

Vegetables
Napa or similar cabbage or bok choy,cut into 2-inch pieces
1 pound daikon radishes or carrots, thinly sliced

Seasonings
2-inch-long piece fresh ginger root, minced
7 scallions cut into fine rounds (include the greens)
4 to 5 cloves fresh garlic, minced
Ground cayenne or hot Korean red pepper to taste
1 tsp sea salt, plus salt for the brine (see below)

The most important measurement is the brine’s proportion of water to sea salt. Measure enough water to completely cover the vegetables, then add 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of sea salt for every 5 cups of water. Pour brine over the vegetables, and let sit at room temperature overnight. Use a weight, such as a dish, to keep the vegetables submerged below the brine.

The next day, drain the vegetables, saving the brine. Mix the seasonings in a bowl. Combine drained vegetables with seasonings in the fermentation container. The container should be large enough to hold all the ingredients, plus the brine, which should cover the mixture by about an inch. Weigh down the vegetables so they don’t rise above the liquid. To allow for expansion and prevent overflow, only fill the container to three-quarters capacity. (Fermentation creates carbon dioxide gas, visible as bubbles rising along the sides of the jar, which expands the volume of the bottle’s contents, and causes overflow.)

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