Amino Pastes (Quick Miso, Peaso & Garum)

Why this method

An amino paste is miso’s logic applied to any protein and accelerated by heat. Traditional red miso ages for a year because it sits at room temperature; if you instead hold a salted koji-and-protein mash at a warm, steady ~55-60°C / 131-140°F, the koji’s proteases work at near-peak speed and a deeply savory paste finishes in 1-4 weeks instead of a year. The same idea makes peaso (yellow-pea “miso”), quick legume misos, and koji garums — where the “protein” is meat trim, fish, mushrooms, bread, or shrimp shells, and the koji enzymes plus added salt liquefy it into an intensely glutamate-rich sauce.

The trade-off is that warm aging skips the slow yeast-and-bacteria aroma development of a long cold ferment — you gain umami fast but build less complexity. Salt and temperature are doing all the protective work here, because, like miso, these pastes do not finish acidic.

Parameters

Parameter	Target
Salt (% of total mash weight)	4-8% (5% is a reliable default)
Koji (% of mash)	~20-30% — the enzyme load
Warm-aging temperature	55-60°C / 131-140°F
Cool-aging alternative	28-30°C, slower, more aromatic
Duration (warm)	1-4 weeks
Target finished pH	~5.0-5.8 (not an acid ferment)
Vessel	Sealed jar/bag held in a warm chamber

Note

At 55-60°C the koji mold is dead but its enzymes are still active — that is the whole trick. You are running a controlled enzymatic digestion, not a live ferment. The salt (4-8%) plus the warm-but-pasteurizing hold are what keep spoilage and pathogens out, since the pH stays above 4.6.

Equipment

🌶️ Temperature-controlled chamber

A sous-vide bath, yogurt maker, or proofer holding 55-60°C steady.

🫙 Sealed jar or vacuum bag

Limits surface oxidation; bags are easy in a water bath.

🧮 Scale

Salt and koji are both percentages by weight.

🔧 Blender

To finish garums smooth and strain solids.

Workflow

Prepare and weigh the protein

Cook legumes soft, or use raw/lightly cooked meat, fish, or mushroom trim for a garum. Weigh the protein, koji, and water together as the total mash; salt is a percentage of that total.

Blend with koji, salt, and water

Combine protein, koji (~20-30%), salt (4-8%), and enough water to make a loose paste or, for garum, a pourable slurry. Blend so enzymes contact every surface.

Hold warm

Seal in a jar or vacuum bag and hold at 55-60°C / 131-140°F. Stir or massage every couple of days. Expect liquefaction and a darkening, savory aroma within the first week.

Judge by aroma and feel

A paste is ready when it smells deeply savory and tastes round and umami-rich with no raw-bean or raw-protein note; a garum is ready when the solids have largely dissolved and the liquid is dark and savory — usually 1-4 weeks.

Strain, season, and arrest

For garum, strain through cloth and reserve the liquid. Refrigerate the finished paste or sauce at 2-4°C to halt enzyme activity, or freeze. The salt keeps it stable in the fridge for months.

Tip

Garums are a clearing house for trim — beef scraps, mushroom stems, dry bread, shrimp shells. Any protein-rich substrate plus koji enzymes plus 5% salt at 55-60°C becomes a savory seasoning liquid.

Caution

Animal-protein garums are a low-acid, room-to-warm-temperature process: the only barriers are salt and the warm hold, not acidity (pH stays above 4.6) and not refrigeration. Do not drop below ~4% salt, keep the chamber genuinely at 55-60°C, and do not can these — they are fridge/freezer products. An ammonia or putrid smell, gas-bloating of the bag, or any pink/black surface growth means discard. These warm enzymatic processes have not been validated as a botulism control; treat them as perishable seasonings and refer canning questions out to NCHFP. See Safety and Botulism.

See also

• Making Miso — the slow, cold parent process
• Growing Koji — your enzyme source
• Time and Temperature — why 55-60°C maximizes protease speed
• Salt Percentage and Preservation Hurdles
• Dry-salt calculator