Miso-fermented condiments?

[elle]

Hello all,

I have been fermenting my condiments, like ketchup and mustard for some time using fish sauce and whey (NT recipe-style), but have had a request to create a vegan friendly version. I'm thinking of using a miso as the inoculator in place of both the whey and fish sauce. Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or discussion would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Elle

[Tim Hall]

Elle, I think you've got a good idea. I often use a small spoonful of miso to kick start my kimchi.

I don't see why it wouldn't work for other vegetable ferments. Wouldn't take much to do a little experiment...

As a matter of fact there's probably dozens of different Japanese "pickles" made by adding miso to various vegetables.

[elle]

Thanks for the encouragement Tim!
I'm in the kitchen tomorrow and will let you know how it goes...
When you say a small spoonful, is that per quart? Gallon? I'm envisioning a ratio of 1t. per quart-ish. I'm looking for the jump-start plus a little depth to the flavor without it actually tasting like miso.

[Tim Hall]

You know I just eye-ball stuff. 1teaspoon per quart sounds about right. When making kimchi I use about 1 Tablespoon per gallon...so that's roughly equivalent.

Just make sure your miso isn't pasteurized.