the library

Miso

Savory & ferment· ferment vinegar

Every one of its 8 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• acetic acidaromaacidreads as pungent (PubChem)Measured in 35 of 338 ingredients.cite

  the paper flags this as the one behaviour peculiar to the soybean misos: 'SM3 and SM12 exhibited an increase in maltotriose and maltose concentrations, and SM3 also showed a decrease in acetic acid levels—a change not observed in the other misos' — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Section 3 text on the soybean-based misos)
• citric acidtasteacidreads as strongly acidic taste (PubChem)Measured in 7 of 338 ingredients.cite

  0.484 ± 0.024 g/100 g (SM12) and 0.284 ± 0.011 g/100 g (SM3) after 18 months, from 0.033 ± 0.003 and 0.030 ± 0.001 at the start — a fifteenfold rise in the traditional-salt miso — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Table 3, Organic Acids block, row 'Citric', columns 'SM12' and 'SM3', 18-month row)
• DL-malic acidtasteacidreads as sour taste (PubChem)Measured in 8 of 338 ingredients.cite

  0.807 ± 0.025 g/100 g in the 12%-salt soybean miso and 0.471 ± 0.007 g/100 g in the 3%-salt soybean miso after 18 months, up from 0.127 ± 0.002 and 0.117 ± 0.011 respectively at the start — the largest organic acid in soybean miso by mass in this dataset; measured by HPLC. A taste-active non-volatile: organic acids of this class carry sourness rather than odour — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Table 3 (Physicochemical parameters of alternative legume-based misos and soybean-based misos at the start and at the end of fermentation), Organic Acids block, row 'Malic', columns 'SM12' and 'SM3', 18-month row)
• lactic acidtasteacidreads as mild acid taste and does not overpower weaker aromatic flavors (PubChem)Measured in 8 of 338 ingredients.cite

  0.250 ± 0.008 g/100 g (SM12) and 0.059 ± 0.011 g/100 g (SM3) after 18 months, from 0.043 ± 0.002 and 0.058 ± 0.006 at the start — a near-sixfold rise at traditional salt and no rise at all at low salt — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Table 3, Organic Acids block, row 'Latic' (the paper's spelling), columns 'SM12' and 'SM3', 18-month row)
• D-glucopyranosetastesugarreads as sweet (PubChem)Measured in 3 of 338 ingredients.cite

  6.922 ± 0.373 g/100 g (SM12) and 12.992 ± 0.288 g/100 g (SM3) after 18 months, from 0.904 ± 0.061 and 0.438 ± 0.038 at the start — the dominant sugar of miso by an order of magnitude, released by the koji amylases from the rice starch; a taste-active non-volatile carrying sweetness — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Table 3, Reducing Sugar block, row 'Glucose', columns 'SM12' and 'SM3', 18-month row)
• maltotriosearomasugarMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite

  0.610 ± 0.038 g/100 g (SM12) and 0.994 ± 0.021 g/100 g (SM3) after 18 months, up from 0.498 ± 0.014 and 0.495 ± 0.030 — one of the two sugars the paper singles out as rising in the soybean misos where they fell in the legume misos — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Table 3, Reducing Sugar block, row 'Maltotriose', columns 'SM12' and 'SM3', 18-month row)
• maltosetastesugarMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite

  0.425 ± 0.016 g/100 g (SM12) and 0.881 ± 0.025 g/100 g (SM3) after 18 months, from 0.386 ± 0.013 and 0.308 ± 0.006 — the second sugar the paper names as increasing only in the soybean misos — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Table 3, Reducing Sugar block, row 'Maltose', columns 'SM12' and 'SM3', 18-month row)
• D-fructopyranosearomaalcoholreads as sweet (PubChem)Measured in 3 of 338 ingredients.cite

  0.585 ± 0.050 g/100 g (SM12) and 0.652 ± 0.047 g/100 g (SM3) after 18 months, from 0.132 ± 0.021 and 0.081 ± 0.07 — Santos et al. 2025, Foods (Table 3, Reducing Sugar block, row 'Fructose', columns 'SM12' and 'SM3', 18-month row)