Phase One: Making The Koji - Pour 4lbs of long grain rice into a large container and let it soak overnight. The next day, bring a large pot of water with a steaming basket to a boil. Place your rice inside of a cheese cloth and tie it up. Steam for 50 minutes, flipping it once halfway through to ensure each grain is evenly cooked. After the 50 minutes are up, let the cheesecloth cool down enough so that you can untie it and let the rice come down to 90 degrees fahrenheit. Transfer all the rice to a bowl and with clean hands, break up any large clumps. Using cleaned hands, sprinkle the koji starter over the cooled and separated rice grains and slowly toss everything together to evenly distribute the koji. Evenly distribute the rice across a couple of sheet pans. Next, place a clean moist towel over the sheet pan and wrap everything up with some plastic wrap. Poke a few holes so as to not suffocate the koji and place it in a warm spot in your house. Set your dehydrator temperature to 90 degrees F and let it sit for 16 hours. Once the 16 hours is up, remove the plastic wrap & towel and mix the rice to make sure the mold is evenly spread out. Re-moisten the towel and place on top of the rice. Wrap the plastic wrap back on and place it back in the dehydrator at 90 degrees Fahrenheit for another 16 hours. The following day, your rice should have quickly transformed into a mat of koji. Break apart the koji and store it in a plastic container or bag. Congratulations, phase one is now complete!

Phase Two: Making The Miso - Start by soaking 2 pounds or 900 grams of dried soy beans for 16 hours. The next day, pour the beans into a pot along with some extra water and cook the beans for 2 - 3 hours. The first 30 minutes you will have to scrape off the foam that rises to the top and after that give the beans a quick stir every 15-30 minutes as it cooks. Once the 2 - 3 hours are up, you will be left with soybeans that can be squished in between your fingers but not completely fall apart. Drain the beans, reserving some liquid for later, and add them to a large bowl. Let them cool down to room temperature or to about 90F. Once cooled, add in 1350 grams of koji and 500 grams of salt. Using clean hands, mix and mash together the beans, koji, and salt. As things start to come together, it will feel a little dry so pour over ¼ cup of reserved bean water to the miso paste. The degree of wetness you are looking for is similar to that of wet sand. You should be able to form a ball with the miso paste! Next, you are going to start forming baseball size balls of miso and tightly pack them inside a crock or a food safe plastic container. Once all the paste is in the crock, sprinkle over a final layer of salt for extra protection from any mold you don’t want growing on your miso. Place a plastic covering over top and weight it down with weights or a bag of water. Finally, place the crock lid over top and put the crock somewhere fairly cold in your house. From here, it's a waiting game! Let your miso ferment for 3 - 6 months while checking on it every couple days and before you know it you will have homemade miso paste ready to be enjoy!