24 
slight proportions of alcohol and free organic acids. Only 
when putrefaction sets in after too long storing and the miso is 
no more fit for human food, an alkaline reaction will probably 
appear. 
Comparing the 4 varieties of miso of which the composition 
has been given above, we find that the shiro miso which ripens 
most early is the richest in water and the poorest in common 
salt. The decomposition of the albuminoids, as shown by the 
percentage relation beween non-albuminoid nitrogen and total 
nitrogen (27.52%), though not advanced so far as in the other 
kinds, has nevertheless attained a remarkable extent, compared 
with the short time of fermentation. Of the carbohydrates not 
so much has been destroyed as in the other late varieties, 
whence the nutritive ratio is still wider than in the latter. The 
composition of the three other sorts is strikingly uniform in 
spite of the different proportion and kind of raw materials ap¬ 
plied, temperature in the time of mixing the latter, and length 
of fermentation. Only in the case of Sendai miso, in which 
the largest relative quantity of soy beans and the smallest pro¬ 
portion of koji is applied, the decomposition of the albuminoids 
took place with less vigour than in the other sorts. 
