Alarmed by the gradual disappearance of small-scale miso breweries that have been a key part of Japan’s tradition of fermented foods, an entrepreneur is on a mission to save such enterprises with her “miso drops” invention – balls of the soybean paste made the traditional way that can be easily made into individual soup servings for busy, health-conscious consumers. The products are the brainchild of Motomi Takahashi, who was won over to the dietary benefits of miso made using traditional techniques when she was recovering from an illness that led to surgery in 2016. The miso drops, produced by hand and sold in elegantly presented sets, are flavoured with vegetable stock. Just add hot water, stir and wait for 30 seconds. Most miso soup products in Japan use soybean paste mass-produced at factories. According to Takahashi, their flavours lack the richness of miso matured in traditional wooden barrels at small breweries, which are often family-run enterprises handed down the generations. “When I was recovering from the illness, I happened to get miso from a brewery in Tokushima prefecture as a gift and drank soup made from it every day. I was shocked to learn the difference in taste from that of instant products, and got well very quickly,” she says. Takahashi says she was under heavy stress as a public relations officer months before she developed her illness, with weakened digestive and immune systems. Nausea, vomiting, loss of taste – what can you eat during cancer treatment? Fermented foods are produced or preserved through the activity of microorganisms, with the processes usually involving yeast or bacteria, and are considered to be beneficial to health by improving gut flora. In miso production, a mould known as koji ( Aspergillus oryzae ), which is also used by soy sauce makers, is employed to ferment soybeans. After becoming convinced of the role miso played in her recovery from illness, Takahashi studied koji at a nutrition school and had the idea of starting a business to promote the foodstuff and Japan’s dietary culture of fermentation. She also learned that small-scale miso breweries preserving traditional manufacturing methods are in danger of extinction. The number in Nagano prefecture, the biggest producer of miso in Japan, dropped 41.6 per cent to 143 between 1963 and 2010. Many have shut down because of financial struggles and their founders’ difficulty in finding successors to take on the business. With the ambition of taking her miso drops overseas, Takahashi introduced prototypes at workshops held in Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2018 and 2019, targeting local entrepreneurs interested in health food. “The original products used soup stock derived from fish and quite a few people said they could not eat the soup because they are vegetarians. That’s why I have shifted to plant-based soup stock,” Takahashi says. I wanted to develop products for the misodrop47 project to allow customers to casually sample miso from all over Japan Motomi Takahashi, developer of miso drops In Japan, ingredients such as dried sardine, bonito flakes and kelp are commonly used as stock for miso soup. Although the coronavirus pandemic prevented Takahashi from getting feedback from potential overseas customers in person, she finalised the concept and opened for business in late 2020 after raising capital via crowdfunding. Among the products she is developing is “misodrop47” – miso from traditional breweries in each of Japan’s 47 prefectures. “I wanted to develop products for the misodrop47 project to allow customers to casually sample miso from all over Japan,” she says, pointing out how difficult it is for people to use up miso from traditional breweries that ship packs containing at least 500 grams – designed for a large family. “With each miso drop weighing around 25 grams, customers can enjoy … a variety of local miso products,” she adds. The first product features miso from eight prefectures. Takahashi has tried to incorporate other aspects of regional food cultures in the products, with a miso drop from Kagoshima prefecture in southwest Japan using dried powder from the Sakurajima radish, a vegetable grown in the region. Takahashi has proposed inventive ways of enjoying miso, including tomato juice, soy milk, oatmeal, crackers, butter, dried banana chips, French fries, potato salad, cereals, nuts, boiled egg, bacon, cheese and olive oil. “By adding crackers, pretzel and dried corn, soup made from miso drops can be more filling, serving as a late-night meal or breakfast,” Takahashi says. Miso production and consumption in Japan has declined over the years, with per-capita supply almost halving to 3.8kg a year in the 40 years to 2007, according to the Japan Federation of Miso Manufacturers Cooperatives. How to make pan-fried Korean bean curd with spiced soy dressing The decline reflects the Westernisation of dietary habits, families getting smaller and members eating meals separately, it says. In contrast, miso exports have been on the rise, with volume and value jumping about 15-fold between 1977 and 2020 to about 16,000 tons (14,514 tonnes) and 3.8 billion yen (US$34 million) on the growing popularity of Japanese food overseas and the use of miso as a seasoning, the federation said. Major miso importers include the United States, South Korea, China, Thailand and Taiwan. Takahashi says she has received positive responses to the miso drops products from such countries as Germany and South Africa on an Instagram site introducing them, and plans to market them overseas once the global health crisis subsides. Encouraged by the steady growth of Japan’s miso exports, Takahashi says: “My ideal concept is miso going beyond the Japanese market and making the world its stage.”