Can I eat this: Miso Paste edition

July 13, 2014 9:14 PM

We have a container of this Miso paste at the back of our fridge, but it's straight shiro rather than shiro + aka. The ingredients are water, soybeans, rice, salt - 2% alcohol by volume. It looks fine and smells great, and the texture seems normal, maybe a little dried out. There's a "best before" date of 30 June 2013, but no "expiry" date. Is there any reason I shouldn't use this to baste roasted vegetables?

Miso is fermented so... it seems like it should be fine?

If you all vote "no" I'll just make something else for dinner and get a new container next time I'm out... Veg are to supplement take-out udon which really should be eaten tonight; I am far too tired + lazy + pregnant to go to the store just for miso paste though!
(This is for spouse, I will likely have something else for dinner.)

posted by jrobin276 to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

It's half salt anyway. Should be fine.
posted by colin_l at 9:16 PM on July 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

I would eat it unless I had a weak immune system.
posted by aniola at 9:31 PM on July 13, 2014

I've always just kept using miso till it ran out. I mean, it's what people use to preserve OTHER things, you know? Could be faulty logic, but...Anyway, I would use it.
posted by wintersweet at 9:31 PM on July 13, 2014

I vote yes. I would certainly eat it, expecting it to be extra tasty.
posted by anadem at 9:31 PM on July 13, 2014

I have seen miso that was advertised as aged for several years. It cost more.
posted by aniola at 9:33 PM on July 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've eaten miso that was similarly old and was 100% fine.
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 9:34 PM on July 13, 2014

It can apparently stay good for a very long time.
posted by Dansaman at 9:50 PM on July 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've eaten out of opened-but-otherwise-not-scary-seeming miso containers that were somewhere in the neighborhood of two years old.

But I've had essentially the same doubts. How could anything moist stay edible that long, y'know?!?

Dansaman's link is a welcome reassurance.
posted by credible hulk at 10:59 PM on July 13, 2014

The pregnant thing would be the determinant. It's fine, but with pregnancy I wouldn't risk the side effects of some dodgy food.
posted by 26.2 at 11:00 PM on July 13, 2014 [4 favorites]

If you're 100% not eating it, then leave it up to your spouse.
posted by 26.2 at 11:12 PM on July 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

My boyfriend has a jar of miso that's older than me. I am 30.

Eat it.
posted by athenasbanquet at 5:33 AM on July 14, 2014

I am far too tired + lazy + pregnant

Is an old jar of miso worth the risk of harming your yet-to-be-born child? (Not being judgemental.) While miso obviously can stay good for a very long time due to the fermentation and salt, the risk is non-zero.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:06 AM on July 14, 2014

Don't eat it, because you're pregnant (but you already were planning that).

Were I your husband, however, and you told me you found it at the back of your long-dead great-grandma's shelving with an expiry date of 18__(illegible), I'd still eat it.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:21 AM on July 14, 2014 [1 favorite]