Traditional Miso is generally made from soya beans, often with a rice or barley, and most frequently fermented with a Koji using cultures of Aspergillus oryzae. Hodmedod's Umami Paste follows the traditional approach but is made with British grown fava beans and uses cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Aspergillus soja and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, it contains no soya, imported or otherwise, and is free from cereals. The Umami Paste is made by cooking split fava beans then introducing the three culture. The beans are then allowed to ferment and age under controlled conditions. During fermentation the cultures produce enzymes that get to work on the carbohydrates and proteins in the beans producing a dark, sweet-smelling puree with complex umami flavours and a sherry-like aroma. Umami is often called the 5th taste (the other four being sweet, salty, bitter and sour) and it comes from naturally occurring glutamate, found in almost all foods and an essential part of our diets, but especially intense in aged and fermented food. Adding Fava Bean Umami Paste to soups, stews and stir-fries, using it as a marinade even adding small quantities to sweet dishes (it's fantastic in chocolate brownies) will intensify the other flavours and add complexity. The Umami Paste is unpasteurised and, though the salt and pH levels ensure that fermentation has almost completely ceased, it is still alive. We recommend that it should be stored in the fridge after opening. Occasionally a white bloom will develop on the paste, this is harmless.
This product is Vegan.
 
Ingredients:
Split fava beans, water, salt, cultures
Nutritional Information
Typical composition per 100g
....energy kJ..................... 431 kJ
....energy kCal................. 103 kCal
....protein.......................... 8.60g
....carbohydrates............ 13.00g
........of which sugars..... 2.10g
....fat................................... 0.50g
........of which saturates. 0.10g
....fibre............................... 5.80g
....sodium.......................... 3.800g
....salt................................. 9.5g