How To Freeze Dry Apple Pie Filling
Jul 6, 2023
Have you experienced tasting miso soup once and wished you could have it again? It’s easy to make, but you must travel to your local Asian store for the ingredients. If only you could make a huge batch and store it, right? But it would require a lot of storage space in your fridge, and it won’t last 7 days. So since you’ve got your Harvest Right freeze-dryer, why not freeze-dry your own miso soup?
To make the perfect bowl of miso soup to freeze dry, you must consider Japanese culture. To them, it represents simplicity, hospitality, and nutrition. This means it should be simple, heartwarming, and prepared with healthy ingredients.
You can make the soup with just three simple ingredients: miso paste, seaweed, and silken tofu. However, you can make a heartier dashi stock by adding bonito flakes, wakame seaweed, dried anchovies, and shiitake mushrooms.
If you’re clueless about how to make your bowl, here are some recipes to try:
If you look at the recipes, you’ll see two common themes. One is simplicity with the love of choice ingredients. Your care and attention to choosing and preparing the ingredients make a great soup. Of course, you can add other proteins like salmon, chicken, or pork if you like, but don’t forget the second theme. Balance. Don’t use too many ingredients because it can ruin the broth’s simple yet comforting taste.
One of the fails in making miso soup is ending up with a lumpy mess. So here are two ways to avoid this.
Depending on the type of miso you choose, you’ll get either grainy or pasty miso. To smoothen a grainy miso, you have to mash it into a paste or puree it in a blender until smooth. Some Asians, though, use mortar and pestle. This gives miso a softer, silkier texture that’s pleasant to the tongue and throat.
Instead of adding the miso paste directly into your soup, thin it out to make a slurry. Put the recommended amount of paste in a bowl and add enough dashi stock to cover it. Use a spoon to stir the miso until it becomes smooth, thick, and even slurry.
Miso comes in different types and flavors that can influence how your Japanese soup tastes. However, there are three common pastes you’ll see in grocery and Asian stores that you can choose from.
This is the mildest and sweetest type of miso, with a slightly salty taste. This is because of its high rice koji percentage and short fermentation. It’s light yellow or beige with a creamy yet thinner consistency. It’s also the least expensive and most common type of miso.
The yellow miso has a deeper, richer flavor because of a more extended fermentation period (6 months). It’s also smooth and creamy but has a thicker consistency than white miso. It contains less salt than red miso and leans to a more acidic taste. It’s slightly more expensive and the second most common miso in the market.
This kind of miso has a higher percentage of soybeans and is fermented typically between 1-3 years. This gives red miso a much stronger, saltier flavor compared to the two pastes. It does have a deep umami flavor that can be overwhelming, so it’s typically not used for miso soup. You won’t find this often; if you do, it’s more expensive than the previous two.
You can cook your miso according to your preferred recipe. Your only option is to add in the silken tofu or leave it out. Do note that freeze-dried tofu will have a different kind of texture. But if you’re in a hurry, hungry, or in a pinch, maybe you wouldn’t mind the difference.
Do note that the more water content your soup has, the longer it will take to freeze dry. But the good part is you can weigh the miso soup before and after freeze-drying. This way, you’ll know exactly how much water to add to get the flavor you want. Much like what you would do when you freeze dry breastmilk.
Whatever you do, don’t cook down the broth. Make a concentrated soup by using less water, but never cook down the soup after adding miso. Miso is rich in probiotics. That’s why it’s added to the stock at the end. When you boil or cook it for extended periods, you kill the “good bacteria” that can help keep your gut healthy.
Since we’re dealing with soup, it’s highly recommended that you freeze dry. Not only does it keep you from spilling the soup in the freeze-dryer, but it also shortens the process.
Place the trays in your deep freezer and pour the soup 3/4 of the way full. You can also use freeze dryer tray dividers to help you pre-portion your soup.
You don’t have to do much to freeze dry miso soup when you have your Harvest Right freeze dryer.
Depending on how much water your soup has, freeze-drying can take between 36-40 hours. Check every section while the trays are still warm. If any spots still feel cool and soft to the touch, ad 4-5 hours of extra dry time.
You can use Mylar bags or Mason jars to store your freeze-dried soup. First, make sure they’re sealed tightly with 1-2 pouches of 300cc oxygen absorbers. Then, when you open the containers, remember to replace the used oxygen absorbers with new ones.
It can be tricky to find freeze-dried miso soup, but we were able to find a couple of online stores.
This online store offers Amano Foods freeze Dried Japanese Miso Soup. The box has five delicious flavors that are so comforting to eat.
When you open the packet, you get this block of miso instead of powder. Amazingly enough, it’s easy to reconstitute. Just add the recommended amount of hot water, and it’s ready in minutes.
Shocking as it is, Walmart has Miko Brand Instant Miso Soup. Manufactured by Shinshu-ichi, this soup also comes in a cube. It’s got tofu, seaweed, green onion, and fried bean curd.
As you pour hot water, the cube disintegrates almost instantly. Does it taste like fresh-made soup? No, it doesn’t. But it’s the closest thing that you can get that’s not too salty or fishy in flavor.
Freeze-drying miso soup is a way to preserve this delicious meal minus the artificial preservatives. Removing nearly 97% of water gives you lightweight, dry, shelf-stable food that lasts for years. It rehydrates instantly and retains that delicate miso flavor that can comfort your soul.
Why do you plan to make freeze-dried miso soup? Is it for personal use or as a gift to someone? Let us know in the comment section.
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more freeze-drying tips and videos.
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