The longevity of the Japanese remained secret until today. Scientists are yet to find out the source of why the Japanese live longer than other countries. However, scientists agree on one matter, and that’s food. One of the daily menus of the Japanese is Miso Soup. This soup may be the primary source of longevity which has vast health benefits like Japanese Sushi.
Let’s see how to make an authentic Miso Soup Recipe and the potential benefits of drinking Miso Soup to live longer.
What’s Miso Soup?
Miso Soup is a must-have menu in Japan, served in a small bowl during a meal at home as well as in Japanese restaurants.
‘Miso Soup’ is one kind of healthy Japanese soup made with Miso Paste, wakame seaweeds, green vegetables, and fish powder. Japanese people drink miso soup at least twice every day. However, the soup tastes salty because Miso is fermented in salt.
However, the main core of the Miso Soup is Miso. What’s in Miso?
Miso is a traditional Japanese probiotic food like yogurt made from fermented soybeans, salt, and Aspergillus oryzae. However, some people make Miso from barley, rice, and seaweed. It’s one of the major Japanese cooking ingredients and is available in grocery stores in Japan.
Japanese people usually use this fermented paste as a valuable ingredient for pickles, fish, meats, and soups. In addition, Miso contains huge proteins, vitamins, and minerals.
Miso Soup Health Benefits:
The health benefits of drinking miso soup are numerous, but we need to know an authentic Miso Soup Recipe to gain all the health benefits. Let’s see first the benefits of drinking Miso Soup-
- reduce the risk of cancer
- anti-aging
- reduce heart disease
- keep body energetic
- lower stress (menopause)
Besides, per serving(bowl), Miso Soup contains various necessary nutrition which everyone should get from every day’s meals as follow-
- Calories
- Protein
- Sodium
- Carbohydrates
- Fat
Not only nutritious Miso Soup also contains various vitamins that the human body needs daily to be active and energetic, such as vitamin K, calcium, copper, zinc, Vitamin B, magnesium, iron, etc.
Click Amazon Image to find all authentic Japanese Miso Soup ingredients
Secret of long life:
Who doesn’t want a long life?
Everyone wants to live longer, but the question is how?
The answer is straightforward.
Follow the Japanese people. Do what the Japanese do, and live like Japanese people if food is the main source of living longer eat what the Japanese eat.
Have you ever thought of not only the Japanese but also the foreigners living in Japan living longer? Can you guess the reason why?
The secret of longevity may be weather, country, soil, food, water, environment, or geological. So, authentic Japanese people live longer, and foreign people live long in Japan.
Therefore, if you want live longer, you should come and live in Japan. However, it may not be possible. But I have a good idea- you can live in your country but think you’re living in Japan and take all goods from Japan with touches of Japan’s weather, soil, water, and environment.
It may sound crazy, but that’s the only way. Without original Japanese materials, neither your Miso Soup Recepi nor Miso Soup will be authentic.
You don’t have to import all the goods from Japan but only the food that Japanese people keep on their daily menu- such as miso, wakame, lentil, fish powder (dashi), kombu, water, tea, etc.
All these commodities are cheap. So you need a little effort.
Very easy? Is it not?
You have to do a straightforward task if you agree with me. The first step is to keep basic Miso Soup on your daily menu. It’s effortless to make. Anyone can make it within 10 minutes. I, personally, drink every day and make it in 7 minutes.
How?
Follow the steps. Making Miso Soup is easier than you’ve ever thought.
How to make Miso Soup?
Before discussing the authentic recipe for Miso Soup, I must clarify a few points. First, the Miso Soup Recipe is simple, and the making process is also simple.
The idea is that Japanese people used to keep their lifestyle and menu simple but rich in body benefits. When we cook, we should keep in mind that we have to keep all the body’s beneficial ingredients intake.
- Miso shouldn’t be overcooked.
- Follow the authentic Japanese Miso Soup Recipe.
Ingredients in Miso Soup:
The ingredients in Miso Soup are simple. You don’t need to make any chicken bone broth, dashi stock, or other complicated ingredients. Traditional Japanese cooking method is simple and healthy.
Let’s make authentic Japanese Miso Soup for two people. However, you can increase the ingredients if you want to make more than two. But Japanese people never measure while they make it. So no worries.
- 1) Cooking Pot:
- 2) Water:
- 3) Scallions:
- 4) Mushrooms
- 5) Seaweeds
- 6) Green vegetables
- 7) Fish powder
- 8) Miso
Miso Soup cooking Method:
1) Cooking pot:
Use a pot containing more than one or two liters of water because you need one litter of water and ingredients. Put your cover to keep all the vitamins of your ingredients intake while boiling.
You don’t have to use fancy and expensive pots if you want to save time. For example, I use a Yoshikawa Stainless steel pot ( see it here).
2) Water:
According to the Japanese Miso Soup Recipe, water is about one liter for two people. So, use one liter of water for two persons.
Of course, you can use more than one liter if you wish. However, you don’t need to drink more than one bowl of authentic Japanese Miso Soup per meal, including other ingredients.
3) Scallions:
No Miso Soup Recipe can be made without Scallions ( green onions). So, we can’t think about Miso Soup without Scallions.
So put a few slices of scallions in Miso Soup, no matter what kind of slice you put. But 99% Japanese Miso Soup is made with thin slices of green onions.
Get Best Japanese Scallions at Amazon
4) Mushrooms:
Mushroom is also one of the must-have ingredients. Some people use Enoki mushrooms.
However, 90% of people use Buna Shimeji mushrooms(Beech mushrooms). Therefore, I recommend using Buna Shimeji mushrooms.
Check here Shimeji Mushrooms
5) Seaweeds:
The members of the Japanese seaweed are countless. But 99% of Japanese people wakame for Miso Soup. People use kombu if wakame is not available.
However, wakame is the best choice for making authentic Japanese Miso Soup. I usually use two kinds together every day.
Check Hokkaido Wakame and Konbu
6) Green vegetables:
Green vegetables are optional in the original Japanese Miso Soup Recipe. Vegetables are primarily seasonal. You can use whatever is available in your country.
However, people in Japan usually put only a few kinds of green vegetables, such as horse radish, green beans, garlic sprouts (which taste like a garlic miso soup), spinach, cabbage, and daikon (daikon leaf).
But when you put garlic sprouts, be sure you like garlic because the soup will taste like garlic miso soup. You can put a few fresh carrot coins, too but make coins light to be cooked quickly.
Japanese people also put silken tofu, firm tofu, and deep-fried tofu (aburaage fried tofu) in Miso Soup. Dried-fried tofu makes good flavor, but silken tofu and firm tofu taste better.
7) Fish powder:
Fish powder (dashi ) is one of the must-have ingredients in authentic Japanese Miso Soup. One pack of bonito powder(not bonito flake) is enough for one pot.
Different kinds of fish powder are available in the market. But knowing the original fish powder is very important. As a result, it helps to follow the method of making authentic soup as well as it saves time.
Note: Bonito powder is better than dried bonito flakes ( see here).
8) Miso:
Miso is the heart of Miso Soup Recepi, and that’s why the name became Miso Soup.
Miso is the last ingriedient. Put 50 grams of Miso when your vegetables are cooked. Refrain from boiling Miso too much. When you think Miso is melted, please turn off your fire, and it’s done.
Find Japanese Miso here
Use Oaks Leye LS1500 Strainer. This Miso Muddler is very cheap but useful. It has two measurements: use big measure for two people and the small one for one person.
On the other hand, it lasts long. (See the price and watch video clips on how to use)
Tips:
Miso has several colors, red, brown, and white. Red Miso is usually used in authentic Japanese Miso Soup. On the other hand, white Miso makes soup different.
Summary:
Authentic Miso Soup is easy to make. Historically, the purpose of drinking Miso Soup in Japan is to save time as well as to satisfy family members. That’s the idea.
However, it became the source of living a long and healthy life. It depends on you what kinds of soup you want to make. You can make different kinds of Miso Soup, as numerous bloggers suggested, such as apple cider miso soup, organic chicken miso soup, and so so.
But our goal is to live longer like Japanese people, so we should know the original Japanese Miso Soup Recipe and practice making and drinking it. As I live in Tokyo with my Japanese wife, I know what they eat and how they eat.
Besides my research (I’m not a scientist), the daily food menu is one of the significant factors in Japanese people’s longevity which other country people don’t usually eat.
If that is the case, Miso Soup is undoubtedly one of the major sources. Furthermore, the ingredients of the Miso Soup are tremendously healthy and beneficial for longevity.
So, keep a small soup bowl of Miso Soup with Japanese-made ingredients to live a longer and healthy life.
Any question? Please email me.
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