Which Crock

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Which Crock

Postby Adam on Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:34 am

Hi all,

This is my first post, and I was hoping to get some help from some more experienced fermenters. I've been doing quite a bit of fermenting from Nourishing Traditions and recently picked up Wild Fermentation and have been going from that as well.

I decided to take on the project of miso making, and had a question for which crock to use. I recently purchased two crocks: a Harsch (I can't believe I actually spent the money on it), and a regular stoneware crock. My original idea in buying the Harsch was that if I was going to have a ferment (miso) going for a year or longer, I wanted it to be in a sealed container. After thinking about it, though I was wondering if the water seal would be wasted on the miso. Does the miso ferment fast enough to make it worthwhile to use the Harsh for this, or would I be better off using the regular crock for the miso and save the water-seal for vegetables and other things that ferment faster?

Thanks for the help,

Adam
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Re: Which Crock

Postby Tim Hall on Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:37 pm

Either crock will work. You'll definitely have to replenish the water, and probably ought to clean the seal on the Harsch crock periodically...it'll collect dust and spores that could get sucked back into the ferment over that length of time.

Personally I'd be inclined, as you suggested, to use the regular crock for miso and the Harsch for shorter ferments.

Your miso recipe determines roughly how long it should ferment. Fast misos can be made in as little as month with warm temps. These misos usually have a very high starch-to-legume ratio and low salt content. These are often described as "white" or "sweet" misos because they have a lot of koji in them which lightens the color and adds sweetness. Longer, slower misos are generally regarded as having more developed complex flavor.
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