Miso~After 3 months.

Are you ready?
ah. HAA! oH~NOOOOOOOO~!!!! Gyoe~qoiwjehi!

After three months of sitting in the deep end of the pantry, I took my homemade miso out so I could stir it. There was CRAZY mold where it was exposed to air. I thought it is the end of my homemade miso. That night, I googled about miso and mold. Miso is fermented soybeans, so the news may not be too bad. I found out that mold is not avoidable for handmade miso. In this case, scrape the mold well, then sanitize the walls, lid...everything.
So, here it is. First, I sanitized my hands with alcohol, scraped away mold (and probably more good miso than I needed to). Then, I took all the soybeans out, and I washed the container with a little bleach. Some makers flip the miso during the fermentation process, so I put the mixture back into the container upside down. I pushed it well, so there was less air pockets. Then, I put lots of salt onto the surface. This time, I put on a perfect sized parchment paper to seal mixture well before I put weight on top.

Hopefully, it works. This miso needs to sit another six months. It already taste like sort of like miso.

Anyhow, if you know me a little well, then you know I am germphobic. This was one of those serious operations with a serious face. I guarantee my facial lines are deeper now.

え？はぁっ？へっ！！ぎょおぉ。あぁぁぁぁぁぁｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ！！！！！！

三ヶ月まえに仕込んだお味噌にカビが生えてた！天地返しをしようと思って、パントリーの奥に潜んでいた岩のように重たい容器をへっこら出した途端、ちらりと見えて、置いて、少し時間が止まってしまった位の衝撃。とりあえず、その夜調べたら、手作りのお味噌には結構ある事のようでひと安心。翌日、まず手から消毒し、カビとその周辺をガバっと取り除き、全てを出して、容器を洗って消毒して、味噌ボールを上下が逆さまになるようにぎゅうぎゅう詰めて、表面に塩を降って、今回は丁度サイズに切ったパーチメント・ペーパーをしいてからサランラップと重石を載せました。味見をしてみたら、やっぱり未熟なお味噌の味でした。できあがりまで、あと半年。どうか、もうカビが生えてきませんように。冷夏でありませんように。ちゃんと、発酵していきますように。

実は、少し潔癖症の私。かなりの試練でした。作業中、鬼のような志で取り組み、鬼のような顔をしていたんだろうな。眉間のしわが気になるぅ。