Annual Miso Making!

We had another Miso Making event!

This is the third year of this event, where we invite our friends over to our house and make miso together!
I never imagined miso can be made at home until we moved in to Tamba Sasayama. For me, miso had been something you buy at the store, just like any other condiments. However, we learned that we could make miso out of soybeans at home, and being in the production area of  black soybeans we use black soybean for making miso!

I started preparing 2 days before the event day because first the beans need to be soaked in the water over night. Then they need to be cooked and mashed to be paste, which takes very long time. 
Anyway, 11 people came over to our place and had fun time together, even our neighbor who makes miso with us every year, just this time she brought her mother and mother-in-law too! We got together, introduced each other, explained the procedure, then got right in to the making! 

By the way, as you may already know, miso is made by a certain bacteria, so it takes 10 months to be matured enough to eat. The natural process is always slow, but the result is just amazing! 

After making miso, we went to the local buffet restaurant, Kuromame-no-Yakata. We ate to our hearts content, enjoyed each other's company, then some of the participants moved on to their plan, and others came back home with us. With the full stomach with such delicious Japanese food, we felt totally relaxed!

It is an annual event, but the participants are different each time, so we not only made miso, but also made new friends!