SWEET AND SOUR – A TOUCH OF MISO

Bored of the same old cakes and desserts. Made a salted caramel sauce to drizzle over ice cream, sundaes and waffles. Why not try adding a savoury twist to give your cakes a deeper flavour, another dimension. One of my favourite flavours to get to that point where you can not help but eat more than you should is miso. Miso makes an excellent edition to all of your favourite dishes. One of my favourite things to bake is cinnamon rolls with miso paste and blueberries. This gives a great twist and you will be surprised by what an excellent flavour the miso gives the cinnamon rolls. Umami is what the Japanese might say, but ‘swalty’ it seems we might say here!
Miso is a Japanese paste, a mix of soybeans, grains and sea salt. Once fermented and aged, the mixture is ready to use. The wonderful paste that results from this process comes in a few forms. Buttery shiro (white) misos to medium-bodied shinsu (yellow) misos to beefy, pungent aka (red) varieties. To get an idea of what makes them different, the darker in color the miso, the saltier and more pungent it tastes.
White chocolate and burnt butter miso make for a unique cookie. It can easily be whipped up for a cosy winter afternoon at home either with a hot chocolate or a smooth red wine.
Tried all the variety of brownie recipes. Why not add some white miso paste and give them an umami flavour you never knew was there.
Even cheesecakes can be given a little lift, even if you do use fresh fruit in your mix.
Not sure about miso, why not try adding your favourite vegetable to cakes, carrot, pumpkin, beetroot, butternut squash and courgette to muffins, brownies or loaf cake. Or why not follow the example of the Americans and make a pumpkin pie. But just add a teaspoon of miso, it will become one of your kitchen staples.
Go and explore your cupboard and delight your taste buds.