Macadamia Nut Tasty Paste

One of our favorite ferments is this quick Tasty Paste or you could also call it a Nut or Seed Miso. Swap out for whatever nuts you like! We love to add it to Fermented Vegan Cheeses, spread it on Toast, make a light noodle broth, use it in a Fermented Cashew Cheesecake and more. This is also one of the recipes we contributed to the book Miso Tempeh Natto by Kirsten & Christopher Shockey. We are honored to be one of their Meet the Makers and to have gotten to share some of our favorites with you!

Macadamia Tasty Paste

Makes: 1 pint 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup macadamia nuts 

• 1/2 cup koji 

• Sea salt 

Instructions: 

To start soak your macadamia nuts overnight. (Or 6-8 hours) 

Put your koji in a bowl and hydrate with 1/4 cup of water. Mix well so everything is hydrated. 

Strain your soaked macadamia nuts. 

Put your nuts and koji in a blender or food processor with a little fresh filtered water to help it blend to a toothpaste consistency. 

Add 1.2 teaspoons sea salt and mix well. 

Move the blended mixture to a small jar making sure to tap or press out any big air bubbles or pockets. Be sure to leave 1/2 to 1 inch head room as we’ve found the nut misos to be especially active in a short amount of time. 

Put a lid on the jar and label it with its contents and the date. This is a quick ferment 3-5 days and you’re set. You can also go longer to have a more mature nut miso. In that can we suggest you coat the jar with a very thin coat of sea salt like you would with a longer Bean Miso ferment. 

Shio Koji

Shio Koji in short means “ Salt Koji.” You take koji, salt, and water and let it sit for around 10 days. What I find most interesting about the Shio Koji process is that salt actually kills the Aspergillus oryzae. Lucky for us, it’s enzymes remain and when you throw into the mix the carbohydrates and sugars that exist in grains and by creating the right fermentation environment you are able to grow some solid bacteria. What does this mean for us? We have this amazingly tasty, umami, bacterial goodness that we can use to create other fermentations or secondary fermentations.

Here’s a list of some of our favorite uses for Shio Koji:

• Shio Koji cured meat

• Shio koji in handmade pasta (a lovely trick we learned from Ourcookquest)

• Sauces & Marinades

• An alternative for soy sauce

• Alternative ways to make pickles

Here’s our recipe for Shio Koji :

2 cups koji

2 cups water

1/8 cup salt

Mix together well and move to a jar with a finger tight lid. Let it sit in a cool and dark place for 10-12 days. Every day you’ll want to stir or shake the mixture. When it’s complete you can opt to blend the mixture or leave it in it’s original state and then move it to the fridge. Shio Koji can be used for 6 month from the date of making — so make sure you date it.