Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
357
358 1950-19 5 1 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE
hours, drained, and cooked for 2 hours Protein hydrolysis in miso manu-
in a pressure cooker under 10 pounds facture is less complete than in soy-
steam pressure. Soybean meai can be sauce preparation. The protein content
substituted for th(î soybeans. When of miso is about 15 percent. The mois-
wheat flour is used it is made into ture content is about 50 percent.
a dough with water, and baker's yeast Soybean cheeses are made by fer-
is added. The dough is allowed to rise menting the curd obtained from soy-
for a day. It is then molded into loaves bean milk. To make the curd, the soy-
about 2 inches square, and steamed for beans are soaked in water 6 or 7 hours
1 hour at atmospheric pressure. Pol- in summer, or up to 24 hours in w'inter.
ished rice is soaked 2 hours in water, If the soaking period is too long, a
drained, anci steamed in a collander. good, firm curd will not be formed
The loaves of dough arc broken and later in the process. The raw, soaked
mixed thoroughly with the steamed beans are ground with cold water, then
rice and soybeans. The mixtures is inoc- pressed to remove the milk. More
ulated with a rice culture of soy-sauce ^vater may be added to complete the
mold, Aspergillus oryzae. Shallow pans protein extraction. Ordinarily, about
arc filled with the paste to a depth of 2 10 pounds of water is used for each
inches, and left at room temperature pound of soybeans. The curd is usually
until the surface is covered with a white precipitated from the milk, which has
mold growth. If the mold grow^th con- been heated almost to the boiling point,
tinues until green spores are formed, by the addition of calcium or magne-
the miso will be of poor quality. The sium sulfates. The type of salt, the
moldy paste is put in a deep vessel, and hydrogen-ion concentration, and the
7 volumes of salt water added for each temperature of the milk at the time
10 volumes of miso paste. The brine of precipitation markedly influence the
contains 7 ounces of salt per gallon. physical properties and taste of the
The fermentation time in the salt mash curd. Too much magnesium sulfate
will vary from 1 to 4 weeks, depending results in a bitter curd, and the bitter-
on the temperature. At the end of the ness is retained in the finished cheese.
fermentation period, the mash is This may be observed to a lesser
steamed and is ready for use without extent when other chValent ions are
further treatment. The salt content of used as precipitating agents. The curd
miso is much lower than that of soy is pressed to a consistency suitable for
sauce. Consequently, miso is much cutting into small cubes.
more subject to spoilage by micro- Sufu is a light-gray soft cheese made
organisms. The paste is usually con- by the fermentation of cubes of curd
sumed within a month or two after 1 to 1/2 inches thick. The cubes are
manufacture. Spices are commonly dipped in dry salt, placed in a shallow-
added to miso shortly before it is pan, and inoculated with a culture of
served. the mold Mucor sujii. After 3 days at
Red miso is made from a combina- a temperature of about 25° G. (77°
tion of soybeans with rice and wheat or F. ), they are covered with a white mold
barley, but the relative quantity of soy- growth, which turns gray by the fifth
beans is greater in the red miso than day as sporangia arc formed. If the
in the white. More salt is also used in curd is too wet or too dense, an am-
its preparation. moniacal odor may be noticed at this
Black miso is made entirely from soy- time. Such curds make cheese of in-
beans. The brine-fermentation stage of ferior quality. When the mold com-
the process is 1 to 3 years, although an pletely covers the cubes and has started
inferior-quality product may be pre- to turn gray, the moldy curd is im-
pared in a 2- to 3-month brine fermen- mersed in brine, to which a culture of
tation. The salt content of black miso wine yeast has been added. The final
approximates that of soy sauce. salt content should be 12 to 15 percent.
FERMENTED SOY FOODS AND SAUCE 361
The brine fermentation is continued in The principal flavor constituents of
a scaled vessel for 3 or 4 months. the soy cheese are a combination of the
Red sufu is a red cheese. It is pre- amino acids derived by the hydrolysis
pared in much the way that sufu is, of protein and fats. The red rice and
except that the curd cubes and red rice its fermentation products, along with
arc placed in alternate layers in deep the rice wine, contribute sugars, esters,
vessels when the brine fermentation is alcohols, and organic acids to the flavor
started. The red rice is a Chinese prod- and odor of these foods.
uct made by growing the mold Monas-
cus rub er in the grains of polished IN THE United States, soy sauce is
white rice until the entire grain is per- manufactured by both the fermentative
meated with the coloring matter. The and chemical methods. Sauce blended
red rice contributes a pleasant taste from the products of both processes has
and aroma to the red sufu cheese. been marketed. Soy sauce is the prin-
Chee-fan is a brownish soft cheese cipal constituent of the popular meat
made from soy-milk curd cut into cubes sauces of the Worcestershire type. The
about one-half inch square. The curd use of soy sauce without added condi-
obtained from 70 parts of soybeans is ments is not popular in this country^
salted with 20 parts of salt^ the cubes except in the so-called Chinese foods.
are inoculated with the Mucor, and a The recent introduction on a broad
week is allowed for mold development. scale into American markets of mono-
Both the Mucor and a blue Aspergillus sodium glutamate as a seasoning agent
appear to play a part in this fermenta- indicates the wide field for expansion
tion. The week-old moldy cubes are of the soy-sauce market in the food
covered with Shaohing wine, and a industries.
rice or wheat-flour culture of the mold
and wine yeast is added. The cheese is LEWIS B. LOGKWOOD^ a native of
allowed to age in wine in an earthern- Indiana, joined the Department of
ware vessel for about a year. Shaohing Agriculture in 1931. From 1940 until
wine is a yellow wine made from rice. his resignation in July 1950, he con-
Tsue-fan is prepared in the same ducted research on bacterial oxidations
manner as chee-fan, except that the and organic acid production at the
quantity of curd is greater in propor- Northern Regional Research Labora-
tion to the salt and wine than in chee- tory.
fan.The cubes arc about one-half inch ALLAN K. SMITI-I received his doc-
on each side. They are boiled in water, tor's degree in chemistry in 1926 from
cooled, and partly dried before inocu- Columbia University. He is senior
lation or salting. This cheese is aged in chemist at the Northern Laboratory,
rice wine for 6 months. where he is in charge of the protein
Hon-fan is a red cheese prepared like properties, isolation, and food use sec-
red sufu, except that the cheese is aged tion. Dr. Smith has worked in the De-
in soy sauce instead of brine. partjnent of Agriculture since 1937.
THE FARM BOY of a half century ago was familiar with the custom of occa-
sionally washing or rinsing with oatmeal water the inside of the glazed clay
jug in which he carried fresh w^ater from the well to the harvest hands in the
fields. It w^as believed that the water in w^hich oatmeal had been soaked had
some cleansing or purifying quality that kept the jug sweet and clean. Now we
find oat flour used in foods, on food packages, and on women's skin, all for the
purpose of preserving sweetness.—T. R. Stanton, Bureau of Plant Industry,
Soils, and Agricultural Engineering.