Since 1993, MISO MAYO has been made without genetically engineered ingredients: we are proud that all our products are Non-GMO Project verified.
Find the most current news about Non-GMO labeling, brands and retailers at www.nongmoproject.org.
MISO MAYO is made from soy without dairy, cholesterol, eggs, wheat, gluten, or sugar.
Our miso is a unique and savory seasoning made of naturally fermented soybean paste from Hawaii. A complete and concentrated source of protein, vitamin B-12 and the 8 essential amino acids, miso is a living cultured food containing lactic acid-forming bacteria and other health-giving microorganisms and essential nutrients. It contains a fraction of the sodium used in moderate to low-salt diets (only 5.5-13% sodium chloride versus 99% in table salt).
Prized for more than 2000 years in China and Japan for its digestion-aiding enzymes and the ability to help assimilate other foods, miso comes in a wide range of flavors, colors, textures and aromas and is used as an all-purpose seasoning.
By the way, did you know that soybeans contain more high-quality protein (35-36%) than any other plant or animal food?
Also, miso around the world is made with a koji starter. Koji is steamed rice that has had koji-kin, or koji mold spores, cultivated onto it. This magical mold, for which the official scientific name is Aspergillus Oryzae, creates several enzymes as it propagates, and these are what break the starches in rice into sugars that can be fermented by the yeast cells, which then give off carbon dioxide and alcohol.
An excellent reference is The Book of Miso: Food for Mankind by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi. Published by Ballantine Books, Random House. 1976.
article: The Art of Making Miso, Los Angeles Times
10 Benefits and Uses for Miso.
The Lucky Peach “How Do Soybeans Turn Into Miso?” luckypeach.com/the-microbiology-of-miso
The Lucky Peach Guide to different types of MISO luckypeach.com/the-lucky-peach-guide-to-miso
Gourmet News October 2015: Miso as Ingredient in Sauces gourmetnews.com/miso-making-strides-in-sauces
Our secret ingredient.
Salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and . . . umami. The fifth taste sensation, umami is a Japanese word and concept of some antiquity, and is said to involve all the senses, providing one with a feeling of perfect quality in a taste, or of some special emotional circumstance in which a taste is experienced.
Savoury, proteiny, safisfying - umami describes the full-bodied flavor of soy sauce, chicken soup, aged cheese, cooked tomato, mother's milk, fish stock, cured meat. Along with salt and sugar, umami is a primal signal about the food we are eating - in the case of umami, about the presence of proteins and amino acids. It blooms in the mouth and hits the back of the tongue.
And that is why so many people keep buying MISO MAYO!
For more information: Society for Research on Umami Taste at srut.org
(P.S. Researchers in California and New Jersey have discovered that the T1R1 flavor receptor on the tongue is shaped like a Venus flytrap, allowing the amino acid glutamate to remain in the "trap" longer giving off the umami flavor sensation. Look for flavor developers to begin enhancing foods with an "umami flavor", hopefully reducing the use of salt and consequently promoting healthier eating.)
Vegetarianism was first recorded by Pythagoras of Samos around the fifth century B.C. - the cardinal rule being "never take any substance into the stomach that once had life." Greek philosophers like Plato, Epicurus and Plutarch were also "vegetarians". The term was popularized by the Vegetarian Society in England nearly 150 years ago. Vegetarianism usually permits the eating of eggs, dairy products and honey, as well as the wearing of animal products like leather, wool and silk.
Flexitarians are your almost-vegetarians. They generally avoid meat, but sometimes break the bond and make exceptions.
"Veganism is the practice of living on fruits, nuts, vegetables, grains and other wholesome nonanimal products," sayeth Yorkshireman Donald Watson in 1944 - allowing also that mother's milk is permitted for babies. Watson, 94 years young in 2005, founded the newsletter "The Vegan News" and prefers the VEE-gan (hard g) pronunciation.
A whole foods Plant-Based diet is not the same as veganism, and emphasizes eating whole fruits and vegetables, consuming lots of whole grains, and staying away from (or minimizing) the intake of animal products and processed foods – including vegan desserts made with refined sugar or bleached flour.
Reducetarians are committed to eating less meat - red meat, poultry, and seafood - as well as less dairy and fewer eggs, regardless of the degree or motivation…because not everyone is willing to follow an "all-or-nothing" diet.
Paleo diet (aka caveman diet, Stone Age diet, hunter-gatherer diet). The Paleolithic diet is designed to emulate the diet of wild plants and animals eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era. Proponents avoid dairy products, grains, legumes, processed oils, and refined sugar.
Pegans combines some principles of the paleo diet and veganism and prescribes a plant-based eating style. Followers eat vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, and eggs and avoid dairy, grains, legumes, sugar, and processed foods.
Keto Diet (aka low carb diet) is made up of mostly fats (75 percent of your daily calories), some protein (20 percent) and a small amount of carbs (5 percent) to reduce inflammation and lose weight - choose low-carb foods such as meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, and good fats. (Originally developed to treat people with epilepsy).
Rawists prefer theirs . . . raw.
Pescetarians/Vegequarians will eat seafood, but not meat or fowl.
Fruitarians, who eat only raw fruits, seeds and nuts and generally avoid harming the plant from which they come.
Lacto-ovo vegetarians adhere to the standards of vegans but eat dairy products and eggs.
Lacto vegetarians allow dairy, but not eggs.
Pollo-vegetarians avoid red meat, but eat fowl.
FYI - "The macrobiotic diet is based loosely on Japanese eating patterns and principles of Traditional Asian Medicine. The traditional macrobiotic diet is vegan, consisting of whole grains, vegetables, seaweeds, fermented foods, nuts, seeds, and seasonal fruits . It excludes meat, eggs, and dairy products, and fluid intake is restricted, although some more liberal forms of the macrobiotic diet include fish and other animal products." By Tania Shaw from the CAM Handbook.
(Some descriptions above excerpted and mangled from 1/30/05 NEW YORK TIMES Sunday Magazine's "On Language by William Saffire”)
The Big Eight Allergens:
1 almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.
2 lobster, crab, crawfish, shrimp, etc.
A true food allergy is a response in which the body's immune system overreacts to protein in the food. This should not be confused with food sensitivity or intolerance - such as lactose intolerance that involves an enzyme deficiency - or other non-immune issues.
True allergic reactions involve the immune system and occur when the body mistakenly interprets something in a food or a food ingredient - usually a protein - as an invader and produces antibodies to fight it. With repeated exposure to the offending protein, the body continues to mount its defense so that, finally, the allergenic food triggers the release of histamine and other powerful chemicals in the body. These are the components of the body's defense that cause food allergy symptoms.
Those symptoms can involve skin (hives), gastrointestinal (nausea, cramps, diarrhea), respiratory (struggle for air) and circulatory (blood pressure drop) symptoms. In extreme cases, anaphylaxis can occur (in which multiple organ systems are triggered) and death can follow in minutes.
All food allergens are naturally-occurring proteins that are very resistant to heat, proteolysis and pH. Trace amounts at parts per million levels can cause a reaction. Sensitivity and severity of reactions vary by an individual and amount of the allergenic material present. Avoidance of the allergen is the only thing that an allergic individual can do to prevent a reaction.
MISO MAYO is made with organic gluten-free tamari, no gluten has been added: factory test results show that our tamari does not exceed 20 ppm gluten.
Gluten is an insoluble protein found in wheat, rye, barley, oats, and other grains including hybrids such as triticale. Gluten intolerance, also known as Celiac disease, has caused rising concern over the past several years. Celiac disease is a genetic disorder in which ingestion of gluten damages the lining of the small intestine, preventing absorption of essential nutrients.
It is estimated that more than 2 million people in the U.S. have Celiac disease - millions more have varying levels of gluten sensitivity or wheat intolerance, also known as wheat allergies. Gluten sensitivity/intolerance has also been associated with attention deficit disorder (ADD / ADHD), autism, and other disorders. While wheat and soy allergies can be outgrown, celiac disease is a lifelong condition.
Canola is a specific edible type of rapeseed, developed in the 1970s, which contains about 40 percent oil. The expeller-pressed canola oil in MISO MAYO is produced through a chemical-free mechanical process to extract oil from seeds and nuts, a process that is an alternative to the hexane-extraction method used for many conventional oils. Our oil is not hydrogenated and contains no trans fats.
Nutrition experts recognize canola oil as having the best fatty acid ratio, comparing it favorably with olive and flax oil. Canola oil has the lowest level of saturated fat (6%), it is relatively high in mononsaturated fat (58%) and has a moderate level of polyunsaturated fat (36%). The euricic acid in Canola Oil is less than .5%.
["Monounsaturated fatty acids found in canola oil have been found to help protect your cardiovascular system and reduce the risk of certain metabolic disorders such as 'insulin resistance' and diabetes, and are linked with a lower rate of cancer," according to The Omega Diet by Artemis Simopoulos, M.D. and Jo Robinson.]
Find more information about canola oil at: www.wholefoodsmarket.com/wholebody/recipes/guides/oils
