What Is Miso Soup?

Miso originated from China to Japan as a foreigner goods back in the early days. At the beginning, it was called "soybean paste" as it was introduced in Japan for the first time. As the time goes by, Japanese civilians had improved and innovated this so-called "soybean paste" into what is called "miso".

Timeline:

8th to 12th century:

It was considered to be a luxury food in Japan, and it was only for the noble families or monks.

12th to 16th century:

IT was part of the Samurai's food source, and was made into the soup base for the first time. Simultaneously, it was available to the general public.

17th to Current:

It has become a well-known food to the Japanese society, and the demand had increased greatly.

Ingredients & Development

What is miso made out of? It is composed of fermented soybean, salt, and Koji. Koji is one of yeast that is similar concept as the yeast for the bread. Additionally, miso can be made from not only soybeans, but also could be made from Rice and Barley as well. For the further information please watch the video from the reference page from our website.

Differences

Miso comes in a variety of forms from white miso, red miso, black miso, and many others. The color of miso is depending on the fermentation time, and the longer the fermentation process, the darker the it will look. Among those different types of miso, white and red miso are the most common used in the Japanese society. White miso is used mostly in the Kansai area, and white miso has shorter fermentation time of 3 months. Conversely, red miso has a longer fermentation time of 3-6 months or longer, and it is mostly used in Kanto area. There is also another common kind of miso, which is called "Awase", meaning that is a mixture of white & red miso together.

Forms

Through the perfection of miso soup, Japanese manufacturing companies has made it more convenient and easier to the society to enjoy the miso soup. There are two common types: 1) miso paste, 2) instant miso soup.

1) Miso paste: it normally comes in a paste form, which can be good for soup base, marinating sauce for fish or meat, salad dressing, and dipping sauce. For the miso paste itself, it never goes to spoil, instead the it will keep fermenting.

2) Instant miso: it has all the ingredients in the package itself such as tofu, seaweed and other garnish. Powder instant miso soup is what you would see at the supermarket the most, but here is another kind called "Freeze Dried miso soup". This type of miso has more garnish and better taste compared to the powder ones. However the cost is relatively higher, unless you are in Japan, or you will not see these kinds in your local supermarkets.

http://miyasaka-usa.com/ Miyasaka Jozo USA is a miso soup manufacturing company based off in Nagao, and has a sales branch in California, USA. Miko is the company's logo, and the company has just celebrated its 350 years anniversary in 2012.

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Raw Food - How to Make the Best Easy Creamy Sweet Corn Chowder in Minutes

I've tried a lot of raw food recipes for corn chowder. Some were thin and runny and some overly spiced. Some not very sweet. I love a sweet creamy corn chowder and finally found what I think works best. Here are some inside tips and secrets to making it the best and still makes it very simple. Here is how to make the perfect or best corn chowder.

I love easy recipes and those that I can make in just a few minutes. Some raw recipes are complex, have too many ingredients and you can slave over them for an hour or two. This recipe you can make in just a few minutes if you have the fresh raw almond milk on hand.

For this recipe you can use fresh corn. But that takes a lot of work and you have to cut all the kernels off of four ears of corn which can be time-consuming. If you have corn in your garden or have access to a lot of corn you may want to do that. You'll find you can't get enough of this corn chowder. In fact the first time I made it I nearly devoured all four servings at once.

Instead I use a package of frozen organic sweet corn. I like the package from Trader Joe's. If you have a Trader Joe's near you pick some up. You can also use it for yummy raw corn chips. If not you can use the other brands available at Whole Foods or New Seasons or other whole food markets. But get organic. It's not genetically modified (GMO). Also try to get sweet corn.

Make the almond milk in advance or night before. Assuming you know how to make it. I use 1 cup of almonds to 3 cups of water and sweeten with 1 tablespoon of agave nectar. You can make it the night before but you want it as fresh as possible. You'll only be using 2 cups of it.

The pureed corn in the recipe automatically makes it thicken. Avocados help to thicken the soup too.

You can make this in a regular blender but you want to make sure the corn has thawed and it may be a little bit chunkier than using a high-speed blender. For a high-speed blender like Vita Mix or Blendtec you can use partially thawed corn.

Helen's Easy Sweet Corn Chowder
4 cups of fresh or frozen corn kernels (fresh would be approx. 4 ears of corn) (if frozen, thaw or partially thaw)
2 cups of almond milk
1 ripe avocado
1/8 tsp of cumin
2 tsp minced red onion... or can use Walla Walla sweet or yellow onion
1/2 tsp sea salt

Put all ingredients in a blender... corn, almond milk, avocado, cumin, onion and sea salt. Blend very well. Pour into soup bowls and serve or into a large glass Mason jar and refrigerate. Corn chowder will keep about 3 days or so. You can top with sliced green onions if have any but you'll find you don't need to. You can serve flax crackers with sunny pate with it.

Serves from 1 to 4 depending on how hungry you are! You don't have to be a raw fooder, raw foodist or vegan to thoroughly enjoy this sweet addicting soup. You'll find you can make it year-round and don't have to wait for corn to harvest. This is one of my raw food recipe basic staples and I serve this easy sweet corn chowder to friends and family and myself often.

Next for my easy raw food recipes go to http://www.RecipesRaw.com and for my raw food diet cure and secrets - how I used it to help cure my breast cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, acid reflux, digestive & sleep issues, headaches, pain, weight loss, etc. see a nurse/raw food expert's http://www.RawFoodDietCure.com

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Soups That Can Keep You Pink In Health

Soup is a liquid form of food that is generally served at the start of a meal. Soups can be vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian. The common ingredients in a vegetarian soup are water and vegetables. The vegetables are boiled until the desired flavor is obtained. In non-vegetarian soups, egg, meat, chicken, prawns or other seafood can be added. Some soups are light and plain, while others have a distinct tangy and spicy taste. Thanks to the large number of choices available, almost everyone can find soups that are ideally suited to their taste buds. It can be eaten before the main course, or as a snack. It is best enjoyed with crispy bread sticks.

TYPES OF SOUP

Some of the most common types of soups are:

CLEAR SOUPS

They are made from clean and transparent stock. One of the most popular types of clear soup is Bouillon.

THICK SOUPS

They are made from stock, cream and water. Chicken, egg, lentils and meat can also be added. They are thick in consistency and due care should be taken while cooking them. Soups that are too thick often tend to lose their taste.

Thick soups are of different kinds. Some of them are:

Broths: They are mostly thick in consistency and are made with vegetables, clear stock and rice. Since they are rice-based, they are extremely filling too.

Purees: Vegetables, lentils or meat are boiled and then smashed to create the puree. Some of the vegetables that are used to make purees are potatoes, peas, beetroot and peas. Starch is required when meat puree has to be prepared.

FRUIT SOUPS

Fruit soups can be hot or cold, depending on the fruit used in it. Cold soups are ideal for summer. Dry fruits, like raisins and dates, cream, and alcohol can be used in these soups. Cold soups are mostly common in the Scandinavian nations, and the Middle and Eastern European countries.

SOME WELL-KNOWN SOUPS OF THE WORLD

Soups feature prominently in the typical cuisines of many countries, all across the globe. Some of the most well-known soups are:

BORSCHT: It was first prepared in the Ukraine. The main ingredients that are used in this soup are tomato and beetroot, or only beetroot. Borscht can be hot as well as cold:

Hot borscht: This is the more common form of this soup. It forms a part of the main course of the meal. It is made with potato, meat, carrots, beef or pork, and starch.

Cold borscht: For making this soup, beetroot is boiled. After it cools, yogurt, eggs, sour cream, cucumber, parsley and radish are added, to get the desired taste.

AJIACO: It is a potato soup that contains chicken, cream, avocado and guasca, an American herb. This soup has its origin in Bogota, the capital of Columbia.

TUSCAN BEAN SOUP: Some ingredients required for preparing the hot, lip-smacking Tuscan Bean Soup are cranberry or pinto beans, extra virgin olive oil, cloves, garlic, chicken stock, rosemary, pepper, carrot and onion. As the name suggests, this soup was first made in Tuscany, Italy.

Sylvester's is a renowned author and a qualified food taster. In this article, he focuses on the types of soup and some of the well-known soups of the world. For more info visit his restaurant Continental Treat Fine Bistro

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Grandma's Easy Tortilla Soup With Toppings

As much as I love soup, in my opinion good soup is hard to make. You need the right ratio of ingredients, the right seasonings, and the right accompaniments. I've had Tortilla Soup in Mexico and Mexican restaurants. This soup comes close to the authentic version that I have enjoyed.

In fact, I think the recipe I devised is so good I sent it to my college-age grandson. He shares an apartment with three friends and is the only one who loves to cook. This recipe is a quick one and if you don't have time to chop onions, you may use frozen ones or even dehydrated.

Since I try to eat healthy, I used 93% lean hamburger, reduced sodium vegetable juice, and reduced sodium taco seasoning. For the topping I used reduced fat sour cream. If you want a more authentic Mexican dish, buy some yellow corn tortillas, cut them into thin strips, coat them with baking spray, and bake them in a 400-degree oven until crisp. Use these strips instead of crumbled taco chips

I try to cook ahead on weekends. If you want to cook ahead, make the soup and freeze it without the garnishes. Serve this flavorful soup with a tossed green salad and the dessert of your choice. Here is my original recipe for Grandma's Easy Tortilla Soup with Toppings.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound lean hamburger

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small red pepper, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

15.25-ounce can of corn with liquid

16-ounce carton of chicken stock (I used salt-free.)

Two 1.25-ounce envelopes of taco seasoning. (Use one and half of the other.)

1/2 cup salsa of your choice (I used medium hot.)

Salt, if you think the soup needs it

Crumbled taco chips

Shredded Cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat.)

1 ripe avocado, chopped

Sour cream

Coat the bottom of a soup kettle with olive oil. Crumble hamburger and saute until brown. Add chopped vegetables, corn, chicken stock, vegetable juice, taco seasoning, and salsa. Cover and simmer over low heat for half an hour. Garnish each serving with shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled taco chips, ripe avocado, and dollops of sour cream. You may also garnish the soup with wedges of lime. Makes 8 generous servings.

Copyright 2012 by Harriet Hodgson

http://www.harriethodgson.com

A freelncer for 35+ years, Harriet Hodgson is the author of 31 books and hundreds of articles. Her latest releases are "Happy Again! Your New and Meaningful Life After Loss" and "Help! I'm Raising My Grandkids." Visit her website and learn more about this busy author.

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Chicken Soup It's Good for the Soul

Chicken Soup Brings Back Memories

Looking back on our childhoods many of us will remember our mothers making chicken soup for us when we were sick. Those are some great memories. Any time that we would get sick mom was off to the kitchen to start a pot of chicken soup. Memories of childhood are precious for most of us and the smell of chicken soup wafting through the house warms us to our very core. I had pneumonia recently and yearned for a bowl of mom's chicken soup, so when I recovered and my daughter got sick I was at the stove preparing a pot of chicken noodle soup. If you would like to share your fondest memory place it under the comment section and share with others.

For most of you reading this, you grew up eating chicken noodle soup and while I love chicken noodle soup I thought I would share with you my chicken and rice soup recipe and one of my chicken noodle soup recipes. Just a precursor to the recipes, you can substitute noodles for rice and vice versa. Here is a little piece of advice, when using a recipe follow the directions the first time and when you make it again, change it up, add one of your favorite spices or if it is a fish recipe with a sauce try your favorite fish the next time, don't worry if it doesn't turn out, we all have failures and successes. I play around with recipes all the time and because I know how to blend spices and flavors together I have more success.

Chicken Soup Recipes

Italian Chicken and Rice Soup

2-3 tablespoons Olive Oil

6 ounces Pancetta (or regular bacon) chopped

1 large onion (medium dice)

2-3 large carrots

2-3 stalks celery

4 cloves garlic

3 bay leaves

1/2 tsp saffron threads

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast

16 ounces chicken stock (made from 2 tablespoons chicken base and 2 cups water) This is better than chicken stock from a can or a box.

1 cup long grain rice (I use wild rice that I have let soak overnight)

1/2 ground pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in a medium to large stock pot. Add pancetta (or bacon) and cook until lightly browned. Add onion, carrots, celery and cook until onion is translucent. Add garlic, bay leaves and saffron; cook for 45 seconds.

Add chicken and chicken broth, turn heat up to medium high, cover and cook 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. remove chicken and allow to cool enough that you can touch it, shred chicken. Add rice and pepper, cook for 25-30 minutes. Return chicken to pot and cook until chicken is hot.

Remove bay leaves and serve.

Chicken Noodle Soup

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion

5 stalks celery sliced

5 carrots sliced

4 garlic cloves minced

3 bay leaves

1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds crushed

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

4 cups chicken broth (made from 8 tablespoons chicken base and 4 cups water)

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast

1 package reames noodles or 1 package egg noodles

Directions:

Heat oil in a large stock pot. Add onions and garlic cook until onion is translucent. Add carrots and celery cook 8 minutes. Add all seasonings cook 30 seconds. Add chicken and broth increase heat to medium high. Bring almost to a boil, partially cover and cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken and allow to cool. Shred chicken and return to pot. Add noodles cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves.

Ready to serve.

When you are sick and feeling miserable you want comfort food and chicken soup always brings comfort. I hope that you try these chicken soup recipes and they bring you comfort on a cold dreary day or a day when nothing will make you feel better until you have some of mom's homemade chicken soup.

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Benefits of Herbal Soups

The Chinese have long believed that diet was vital to good health. They also believe that diet can cure disease. Only recently has modern medicine proven what they have believed all along. If a happier, healthier and very likely longer life is your goal then adjusting your diet is not only recommended but truly necessary. So try the large variety of herbal soup recipes from around the world, starting with China where ancient physicians knew what modern researchers are just now proving.

Part of an overall healthy diet in China is that nothing is eliminated, so an expansion of the palate is necessary. Sweet, sour, bitter, savory, spicy, pungent and bland are all needed for total body health so expand your horizons and stop being picky if you want to be healthy. Forget what you have learned from western diet fads eliminating food groups in an effort to lose weight or improve health. These diets force the body to shed pounds by making it operate in manners it was not designed for stressing the whole body and the mind.

Herbal soup recipes and other healing foods are dependent on embracing everything in moderation. Controlling the body's temperature is vital when consuming herbal soups. Do you tend to feel cold or is the weather outside or where you work cold? Then try soups containing warming components. Warming herb like ginger, turmeric, chili peppers, nutmeg, cinnamon, walnuts and green onions help raise the body's temperature and return it to balance. If you typically feel hot, live or work in a hot environment, herbal soup recipes provide the solutions for you. Components of a cooling soup tend to be ingredients such as mint, tofu, citrus, tomato, celery, lettuce and cucumber.

With the body's temperature in balance, the mind and body are free to heal themselves. Chinese herbal soup recipes include a lot of colors. Not those found in the prepackaged chemically laden aisles of the grocery store, but the colors found in nature. Spread your vegetables across the color spectrum to ensure total body maintenance and healing. White vegetables such as garlic and onions contain sulfides which are antibacterial, combat cancer and improve the immune system. Red fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and watermelon contain lycopene which is linked to preventing cancer. Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables such as carrots squash and apricots contain beta carotene which may not only reduce the likelihood of cancer but also minimize heart disease.

Finally, if you want the full benefits of modifying your diet and adding a massive variety of herbal soup recipes to your diet you must learn moderation. Western societies are accustomed to eating to their full or worst, flat-out stuffed, this is considered excessively stressful on the whole body but specifically the digestive organs. Eating until your only 70 or 80 percent full minimizes stress on the digestive system and helps with portion control, which will help achieve and maintain a happy and healthy body weight in a natural and healthy way.

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Heart Warming Vegetable Beef Soup

Vegetable Beef Soup On A Cold Winters Day

Waking up with freezing rain and temperatures below freezing warrants a day for a steaming hot bowl of soup. We have all grown up with our favorite version of Vegetable Beef Soup. Soup is one of those dishes that taste even better the next day. When I make Vegetable Beef Soup I start it early in the morning and let the beef cook most of the day in the rich broth, it produces amazing flavor.

Varieties of Vegetables for Soup

When making Vegetable Beef Soup you can use any vegetables that you like. Some people choose corn, peas, green beans with potatoes and carrots added. In our home we have potatoes, turnips, carrots and cabbage. The secret to Vegetable Beef Soup is your broth, if your broth is bland your soup will be bland. There is nothing as heart warming than coming in from the freezing cold and smelling the wonder aroma of the broth from your soup.

Mama T's Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:

-1/4 cup olive oil
-2-3 pounds rump roast cut into chunks
-1 large onion, diced
-4 cups beef broth (made from 5-6 tablespoons beef base and 4 cups water)
-1 14ounce can of tomato sauce
-1 tablespoon oregano
-1 tablespoon marjoram
-1 tablespoon thyme
-1 tablespoon basil
-3-4 bay leaves
-Salt and Pepper, to taste
-6 large carrots, diced
-3-4 turnips
-4-6 potatoes, diced
-1 medium to large head of cabbage, shredded

Directions:

1. In a heavy-bottom stock pot add 1/4 cup olive oil on medium-high heat. Add onions and roast chunks. Cook until meat is brown.

2. Mix together the beef broth and tomato sauce. Add to the meat mixture; and turn heat down to medium.

3. Add all spices. Add extra water if needed. Make sure and keep the meat covered in liquid. Cook 3-5 hours, make sure meat is very tender.

4. Add carrots, turnips, potatoes and cabbage. Cook on medium until done.

5. Once the vegetables are tender you can turn the heat to medium-low and allow for the flavors to continue to meld together.

It is ready to serve with your favorite rolls.

Our pot of soup is almost ready. Soon our family will sit around the table enjoying this heart warming Vegetable Beef Soup. When you sit around the dining room table with a warm bowl of soup, it is a great time to talk about your favorite memories with your family.

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