Kome Dreaming - Learn to Make Miso byFood x GTJ Collaboration Experience

Are you thinking about traveling to Japan? What would be the purpose of your visit? Trying local and authentic food? Experiencing how people in Japan make their food? Purchasing souvenirs for yourself or others that scream Japan? If you answered yes to all of these questions, I would highly recommend visiting a small local shop located in Tokyo called Kome Dreaming.

Before heading to the airport from Tokyo, you can easily take the Yamanote Line heading towards Shibuya and Shinjuku, the outer line, and get off at Hamamatsucho. From Hamamatsucho, leave the station through the North exit and keep walking straight towards Tokyo Tower.  After about a 9-minute walk, you will arrive at a great big Torii gate that will lead you to the Zojoji Temple. After you pass through the gate, you will spot the simple yet elegant quaint little shop, Kome Dreaming.

Kome Dreaming’s store concept is finding and broadening the love of Japan, its culture, and the many uses of rice.  All the products displayed in the shop are all made and produced in Japan.  The label on the products? Made in Japan.  The branding you see? Made in Japan. The contents of the products? Made in Japan.  The rice used? You guessed it, made in Japan.

Upon entering the shop, I was greeted by the kind and welcoming staff. Everyone was cheery and helpful.  When I introduced myself, I was promptly guided to my reserved experience.  The shop offers two types of experiences.  One is a rice ball making experience, while the other is a miso-making experience. I opted for the latter as I was always curious about how to make miso.

Once I arrived at my seat, a lovely pamphlet about miso and the recipe I would be using was presented to me along with a Japanese happi, a lightweight coat that is usually worn and used in traditional Japanese shops and festivals, and a beautiful handcrafted origami crane. Once I put on the happi and washed my hands, we quickly got started with making the miso.

Making miso took only three ingredients. 

The first main ingredient was Daizu beans, or what many other people call soybeans. The second ingredient was salt. And the last ingredient, also the most important since it helps the fermentation of the miso, is koji rice. Koji rice is a fermented rice that is made from a special fungus called Aspergillus oryzae added to cooked rice.  This mold releases enzymes to help decompose carbohydrates and protein, allowing the rice to ferment.

The first step was to mash the beans with my hands.  The instructor told me that if you would appreciate a more unique or original taste from your miso, it was best to mash the beans with your bare hands. If you decided that you did not want to get your hands dirty, the instructor was well prepared by leaving disposable gloves on the side to put on. I wanted to get my hands dirty, so I went straight in, mashing the beans until it was almost a smooth paste with little to no beans visible.

This process took quite a bit of time since we wanted to get the beans as pasty as you could with just your hands.  Since we were using pre-cooked soybeans, we were immediately able to start smashing the beans, but if we were to start from dry beans, we would have had to take a few more extra steps that would take at least a day, which timewise, we did not have, so we opted for the pre-cooked soybeans.

After the beans were mashed up into a smooth paste, we combined the salt and koji rice together in another small mixing bowl.  Since my hands were still covered in the bean paste, “washing” my hands with the salt and koji mixture helped me not waste any of the beans that were still on my hands.  Once the koji and salt mixture was thoroughly mixed and my hands were clean of bean paste, the mixture was then added to the bean paste, and once again, my hands went in to mix all the ingredients together. This time, similar to making bread, I kneaded the soybeans together with the salt and koji mixture. You want to knead the mixture well to evenly distribute the koji rice so that it will evenly ferment the miso.

Once the mixture was well kneaded, it was time to pack the mixture into a sterilized container with a lid. In order to pack the miso tightly, you would need to roll out tennis-sized balls from the mixture, making sure that there are no air pockets. Once you have your balls, place them inside the container in layers. Once a single layer is ready, press down the balls until it is flattened with no air pockets between the layers.

A little fun fact my instructor told me as I was forming balls with the mixture was that in the past, when miso was handmade in large quantities, it required quite large barrels to store the miso. In order to quickly and efficiently fill up the barrels, workers would form the balls and then toss them into the barrels. What a fun way to “play” with your food.

After all the air pockets were pushed out of the mixture, we sanitized the top of the container one more time, covered the top of the mixture with plastic wrap, and placed a small bag of salt on top of the mixture to add weight and to fill up space as the lid was sealed on. Once the lid was sealed, that was it. All that was left to do was to place the miso in a warm location with little to no sunlight, like a closet or a storage cabinet. Then you let it sit undisturbed for 4-9 months. My instructor told me that 6 months is plenty, so I will be having some Christmas miso.

Just when I thought the experience was over, I was introduced to tasting three different types of miso that the shop offered. Usually when people think of miso, they would think of the majority version made from rice koji.  This version is also known as yellow miso and is usually eaten in most areas of Japan. A lighter and sweeter version of miso is known as white miso, which is usually made from barley koji. This miso has a natural sweetness that makes the miso more subtle than the rice miso.

Most people from the Kyuushu areas like Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Oita, and Saga would usually consume this type of miso.  The last variety is a red miso that is rich with a deep umami flavor, and is made from bean koji. This miso is well consumed in the Kansai area, like Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Hyogo, and Mie. From the three small samples I was able to taste, I chose the barley miso to be made into miso soup, since it was the one I was least familiar with. I think it was an amazing choice since, as the staff was preparing the soup, I was also able to chat with the employees to talk a bit more about their shop.

While conversing with the staff, I was also offered a flight of amazake. Amazake is a naturally sweet rice drink which is made from fermented rice koji.  It may sound like it is an alcoholic drink, but it is actually non-alcoholic.  It is rich in vitamins and minerals with high amounts of dietary fiber and glucose, strengthening the immune system.

Each flavor paired very well with the amazake.  From the bottom, I had their nama amazake, normal amazake, matcha, hojicha, kinako, and the last drink was not amazake, but a koji coffee.  The nama amazake was really easy to drink, creamy, and was sweet.  The normal one was also creamy, but somehow did not taste as sweet as the nama. If you enjoy a strong matcha flavor with no bitterness, the matcha one almost tasted like a matcha latte.

On the other hand, the hojicha flavor was light on the hojicha taste with a slight bitter aftertaste. The kinako flavor had quite a nice subtle nutty taste. The last drink was an iced coffee made from mixing koji rice with the beans and fermenting them together before roasting the beans. It had a nice, light flavor which made it easy to drink. I can’t really explain coffee very well since I am not a coffee drinker.  I usually don’t drink coffee, but I was surprised that it was palatable for me to consume.

As I was trying each drink, the staff and I started talking more about the shop itself.  Kome Dreaming helps out as a Kodomo Shokudo.  Sometimes locations may be over-capacitated, so the centers would dispatch children on recommendations to their shop.  When these children arrive, they are offered rice balls and miso soup as their meals.  The owner also did various volunteer and charity activities on a personal level, but as a business, they are currently participating in the Kodomo Shokudo.

After that, the experience portion was officially finished. As a whole, the experience was enjoyable. Being able to make my own personal miso, trying various flavors of miso, while also enjoying some of the store’s products really showed me how much the store really loved their products and how much they wanted to show their customers their love of rice. The connection between everyone who visits the store allows everyone to fall more in love with Japan and its culture while also learning the versatility and many uses of rice. Even though I was going home with a container of miso, they also presented me with a set of spoons and chopsticks to take home too.  These utensils were also made from rice, and everything was produced in Japan.  The love they kept showing was never-ending.

Inside the shop, the most sought-after items were the handmade accessories.  Each piece was made with old rice. Instead of throwing away the life of Japan, these artists decided to repurpose the grain into something more beautiful and dazzling, allowing those who gaze upon them to continue to love and appreciate the importance of rice. I, myself, was entranced by a pen that was decorated with dried rice husks, dried flowers, and gold flakes. The simple yet beautiful design of the pen called out to me, and before I knew it, I had purchased the pen and have been using it while gazing at its beauty.

The miso experience was so fun and hands-on! I learned various interesting facts about miso that I never knew before.  Getting my hands dirty and knowing that it will be my original miso makes me more excited to taste the miso after it is fully fermented. The staff were so easy to talk to. I had many amazing conversations with them and learned so much about their store's concept and their love for their products.

Being able to taste various miso also broadened my taste buds and made me realize that there are many more complex flavors and varieties of miso that I should try in the future.  I was also able to try different flavors of amazake, a sweet fermented rice drink, which I didn't know existed.  I knew of the original flavor, but I never thought adding different flavors would make amazake more versatile.

The store is quite small, but it felt welcoming and warm both outside and inside.  It made anyone who stepped inside feel like they were in a small, homey, welcoming atmosphere where they could relax and enjoy their time.  Everything about the store and the experience was amazing. Getting there was easy, and finding it was straightforward. If I am ever back in that area, I would definitely return to try more of their products. 

If you are ever in Tokyo, wondering what to do for a couple of hours, I would highly recommend visiting this store if you ever have a chance.  If you would like to partake in this experience, you can head on over to one of our partner’s website, byFood, and reserve your miso-making experience there.

Image Source:

All original content taken by the author

Reference Source:

1. Documents and information provided by Kome Dreaming

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Visiting Information:

Book this experience here: https://www.byfood.com/experiences/japanese-miso-making-workshop-near-tokyo-tower-1125

To try other VIP By Foods experience yourself, visit: https://www.byfood.com/