Make Your Own Miso

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Ingredients
2 pounds non-GMO dried soybeans
2 pounds basmati rice koji
14 ounces fine white sea salt

Note:  Overall this process will take three to six months to complete

STEP 1 - Rice Koji
4.5 cups basmati rice
1.5 teaspoons koji starter

Directions

• Rinse rice in cold water until the water is no longer cloudy
• Soak rice in water overnight 
• Drain water from rice
• Line a steamer with fine-mesh cheesecloth and steam rice for one hour (note, mutimple batches may be required depending on the size of steamer)
• Remove rice from steamer
• Once cool enough to touch, use clean hands to stir and work out any clumps that have formed Continue to stir until rice has cooled to 110°F
• Add koji starter to rice and mix thoroughly for 3-5 minutes
• Cover with a clean and damp cloth
• Incubate at 86°F for at least 12 hours (you must control your incubator's temperature based on the internal temperature of the rice)
• After the first 6 hours, stir rice and break up any clumps that have formed
• Cover and return to incubator for another 6 hours
• Stir rice again; if its drier than before, re-dampen cloth, cover, and return to incubator for another 12 hours (note:  rice should smell faintly sweet)
• Stir rice one more time and then create 2-3 trenches or furrows in the rice bed. 
• Make the trenches halfway deep with a goal to create as much surface area as possible
• Cover and incubate for 12 more hours, ensuring that the temperature remains near 86°F (30°C)
• Occasionally, check rice and dampness of cloth
• Rice should smell sweet and fragrant and have signs of a white fuzzy mold beginning to form. Cover and ferment for another 12 hours.
• Once white mold has stretched across the rice bed, remove from incubator
• Break up the rice clumps, and bring to room temperature
• Use rice koji immediately, refrigerate or freeze in a sealed container, or slowly dry for 1-2 days 

STEP 2 - Beans

• In a large pot of cold filtered water, soak the soybeans for 24 hours
• Drain the beans and return them to the pot
• Refill the pot with water to about 5 inches above the beans
• Bring to a boil over high heat, lower to a simmer, and cook for about 6 hours (or more) until the beans are soft
• Drain the cooked beans and mash into a coarse consistency

STEP 3 - Miso

• Pour in rice koji
• Sprinkle in 3/4th of the salt
• Knead well to distribute the rice koji and salt with the mashed beans
• Place a large crockery pot or food-grade plastic vat on the floor on top of plastic sheeting
• Using your hands, form a palm sized spheres of bean mash and throw them into the container until half filled
• Pat down the surface of the bean mash with the flat of your palm and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4th of salt
• Smooth a clean muslin cloth across the surface of the mash and let it drape down over the sides of the container to keep out flying leaves or other debris
• Place a wooden or plastic drop lid on top of the cloth-covered mash surface
• Weight it evenly with 4 1/2 pound (flat weights or rocks)
• Cover with one more large muslin cloth and wind string around the pot to tie the cloth in place; the cloth is needed as a mold barrier 
• Let the young miso sit undisturbed (a warm place indoors or in a shaded area outside in spring/fall)
• About once a month stir the miso; if you see any mold on the surface, carefully scrape it off
• Once prepared, put in storage containers or jars; Miso can be stored for years