AND COMPOSITION OF MISO. 
*5 
are much favoured by heat. The original temperature and the 
length of fermentation until maturity of the 4 kinds of miso is 
shown by the following table. 
Temperature of the 
original mixture 
Shiro miso.70 —go c C. 
Yedo ,, . 35-45 »» 
Inaka ,, .15 — 28 ,, 
Sendai ,, .15—20 ,, 
Length of the 
fermentation 
4 days 
7 months 
8—15 .. 
The temperature of the shiro miso speedily diminishes, partly 
on account of the rapid fermentation, which, of course, soon 
declines as the fermentable substances are destroyed ; partly 
because it is only made on a small scale, since it does not keep 
long. We noticed in the fermenting mass 3 days after mixing 
only n°C. in a room with a temperature of 6°C. Yedo miso keeps 
its heat longer, owing to the less intensive, long lasting fermenta¬ 
tion. In one case, we found it to have still 23°C. 18 days after 
mixing. On the other side, Inaka and Sendai miso remain cold 
for a considerable time ; as they are chiefly prepared in winter, 
they begin to get warm in spring and summer, and remain so 
until autumn. 
The other factors upon which the rapidity of the fermentation 
depends, are the proportions of koji, water, and common salt. 
For slowly ripening sorts of miso less koji and water, and more 
salt is taken than for the early sorts. With a large proportion 
of koji not only more fermentable matter, but also an increased 
number of fungi are introduced into the mixture, and a copious 
addition of water diminishes the high concentration which has 
a retarding influence on the fermentation. The salt, too, when 
applied in such large doses as in Yedo, Inaka, and Sendai miso, 
remarkably reduces the rapidity of the fermentation. 
The analyses, already referred to furthermore indicate that 
in the early varieties of miso the dissolution and decomposition 
of the raw materials does not assume so great an extent as in 
the late sorts. Shiro miso, which is ready after 4 days’ fermen¬ 
tation still contains in the dry matter 16.12 parts of uninverted 
