The history of Miso will literally blow your mind

Ok, so Miso has been around for a looooong time.

It was invented by monks 1,000 years ago

This bunch of monks fermented rice, soybeans and salt to make a paste. It was initally a luxury item for the elite. But it was created for a reason...

Miso was a superfood made for the Samurai

These epic monks perfected the fermentation process to give Samurai more energy in battle. Yup. It's literally an OG superfood. But we're just getting started.

Miso paste, a fermented food, is full of good stuff. It's high in protein, vitamins, minerals and probiotics. It's also low in calories and fat. It's no wonder that...

Miso has since been a daily staple of people that live to over 100+

This is just wild: There's a region in Japan called Okinawa that has a disproportionate number of people who live to over 100 years old. They call it the 'land of immortals'. While there are many factors that contribute to their longevity, Miso is a daily staple in their diet.

But the next thing blew our minds

Scientists literally discovered that Miso paste helped remove radioactive particles from the body. Wait, what? Yeah, after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in 1986, Miso was shipped in tons to help protect workers and locals from radiation poisoning, which means...

Miso saved lives after a nuclear disaster

Ok, ok, so if this stuff is so good, why doesn't everyone know about it? Well, they kind of do. Japan has one of the world's highest life expectancies, and Miso is a daily staple pretty much all over Japan and lots of other Asian countries. But, when we went to pick up some Miso...

We couldn't even read the labels

We had to venture into peculiar asian grocery stores and there were tons of crappy varieties and mashups of Miso. It was annoyingly hard to find pure Miso paste made the traditional way: no additives, alcohol or genetic modification. Eventually we brought home some quirky brands to try. Then it got even more interesting.

We already knew & loved miso soup

We also knew Miso went well with fish and was used in some Japanese dishes. But we had no idea that it could be used in cheesecake, bolognaise, ice-cream, christmas ham and even cookies. This wasn't just some esoteric ingredient: it's a universal superfood and umami flavour bomb enhancer.

Miso paste goes with literally everything

It's super versatile with a delicious salty umami flavour profile. It works with savoury dishes, but even in a hot chocolate! (Kind of like a salted caramel). It even reminded us a little of a milder, friendlier vegemite, but without the nasties. So, of course, we tested it on our kids: toast with butter and miso. And, well...

Miso paste on toast was a hit with the kids

Ok, we knew enough. We knew what we had to do. The world, including us skippies, needed to know about this 'not-so-secret' secret. So we ran with it.