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Common
Mistakes In Beginning Macrobiotic Practise
OVERSALT / UNDERSALT & SEASONING
It is easy, particularly at the beginning of your macrobiotic practice,
to overuse salty seasonings such as miso, shoyu/soy sauce, sea salt,
umeboshi (plums, paste, or vinegar), condiments and sea vegetables.
It also happens that, out of fear or unfamiliarity, people underuse
these ingredients. However, overuse is the most common error in beginning
macrobiotic practise. It arises from the desire to make the food tastier
or because we are unfamiliar with proper seasoning amounts and techniques.
Also, many people make the mistaken assumption that if some
is good, then more is better. It is essential to study macrobiotic
cooking with an experienced, well-trained and qualified macrobiotic
cooking instructor so that you learn macrobiotic cooking techniques
and how to create tasty, well-prepared, and balanced food. It is also
helpful to follow the recipes and seasoning guidelines outlined in
macrobictic cookbooks which are designed for health recovery.
The following are common mistakes:
Adding too much Miso or Shoyu/Soy Sauce to your Soup
Miso soup is best when it has a light, refreshing, mildly salty flavor.
Michio Kushis apt and poetic description for the ideal broth
is fresh as a spring breeze. You should still be able
to taste the vegetables in it, see the bottom of the bowl, and not
want to take a beverage or something sweet after drinking it. Keep
in mind, however, that it should taste like soup and not tea. Soup
relaxes us before the meal, stimulates our appetite and digestion,
and helps make good, strong blood. Learn to make elegant, delicate
(and sometimes heatty, but not salty) soups, and you will enjoy your
meals to the utmost.
Not simmering in the Miso, Shoyu/Soy Sauce or Sea Salt
Miso needs to simmer in the soup over a low flame for 3-4 minutes
before eating. Shoyu/soy sauce needs to simmer over a low flame for
5-7 minutes. Sea salt needs to simmer for 10 minutes or longer over
a low flame. When the salt from these seasonings is properly blended
in the broth, it not only tastes better and smoother, it is far more
digestible and nourishing.
Using too much Sea Vegetable in Soup
Follow the recipe guidelines for wakarne/kombu use in your recommendation
booklet. Keep in mind that soup is seasoned with miso, shoyu/soy sauce,
or sea salt - not by the sea vegetable. A graceful leaf or two of
wakame floating in the bowl is the appropriate amount (as opposed
to a slurry of slime!). On average, about _" - 1" piece
of dry wakame per cup of miso soup creates a desireably mild taste.
Too many Condiments or Pickles
Condiments are the spark plugs of macrobiotic eating. They supply
vitamins and minerals, while improving the taste and digestibility
of grains and vegetables. They should enhance, not overpower, the
dish on which you sprinkle them. A _ -1 level teaspoon of condiment
once or twice a day is an appropriate amount for most people. Some
may need a bit more, many will do better to take a bit less. Follow
the guidelines in your recommendation booklet. In order to receive
the most benefit out of condiments, use just enough in a meal to taste
it in several mouthfuls. Rather than creating unidentifiable mounds
by smothering your food in a salty powder, keep in mind that you should
be able to fully see the food beneath the condiment.
The same goes for pickles: a little goes a long way. The average consumption
is one tablespoon per day. You may eat them with or following any
meal. They are not the most ideal snack, as they may make you hungrier,
thirstler, or crave sweets. Also, please remember to rinse or soak
them (including store bought) well in.cold water before eating. This
will remove any strong salty taste.
Using shoyu/soy sauce at the table
Shoyu/soy sauce, while available as a table condiment in Japanese
and Chinese restaurants, is really designed for use in cooking. Only
when it is well blended into food over a low flame does the best,
sweetest taste result and is proper digestibility assured. Pouring
it on rice, noodles, beans, or other foods like popcorn, toasted nuts
or seeds can make us feel stiff, irritable, thirsty and crave sweets.
Sea Vegetables
Sea vegetables are a delicious part of a natural foods diet. In addition
to supplying important minerals, including complex sodium, sea vegetables
help to clean our blood, cells and tissues, keeping them strong and
flexible. If we overeat sea vegetables, however, we may become quite
the opposite: stiff, inflexible, tired, and craving oily foods or
sweets. Please follow recipe suggestions and enjoy moderate amounts
throughout the day and week. Just a NOTE: When cooking rice with kombu
we generally use almost 1" square (US. postage stamp size) dry
piece instead of sea salt to mineralize the rice.
OBSCURE AND CREATIVE WAYS TO OVERSALT
Using the leftover water from cooking udon or soba noodles can make
us feel tight, experience water retention and other symptoms of excess
salt consumption. Discard noodle cooking waters while healing and
rinse off Japanese pasta well after cooking as it is made with salt.
Using sea salt and kombu while cooking rice is too much. Choose one
or the other. The standard amount of sea salt per cup of rice is a
tiny, tiny pinch - the amount that sticks to your moistened finger.
Using miso as a spread like jam on bread or rice cakes. Use miso only
in cooking and only in modest amounts. While it is delicious right
out of the container it is not easily absorbed in the body and is
generally too salty for this type of use.
Snacking on salty umeboshi plums, adding condiments to already well-seasoned
soups and in general overdoing it. If you find yourself consistently
craving salty taste, please contact a qualified macrobiotic teacher
for assistance in distinguishing what imbalance could be causing such
cravings.
Salts Hidden Power
The use of sea salt and salty taste in cooking is one of the most
important factors in our human diet whether it is based upon grain
and vegetables or animal food. Good quality, unrefined minerals are
essential to our bodys ability to make strong blood, bones,
teeth, nerves, tissues, and cells. Managing salt in our cooking helps
ensure not only good tasting food but good health as well. There is
no need to fear salt and salty seasonings - simply use them with care.
GUIDELINES FOR MILD TO AVERAGE USE OF SEA SALT,
SEASONINGS, CONDIMENTS AND SEA VEGETABLES
Salt Sources: Sea salt in cooking, Miso in cooking, Shoyu/Soy sauce
in cooking, Umeboshi (Plums, Paste, and Vinegar), Condiments such
as Gomashio (Sesame Salt), Tekka, Shiso Powder, Green Nori Flakes,
Roasted Sea Vegetable Powder, Sea Vegetables. Pickled Vegetables.
Miso for Soup
1/4 - 1 level teaspoon per cup of broth
Simmer in broth for 3-4 minutes
Shoyu/Soy Sauce for Soup
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon per cup of broth
Simmer in broth for 5-7 minutes
Sea Salt for Soup
1/8 teaspoon per 2 cups liquid
Simmer in broth at least 7-10 minutes
Umeboshi Vinegar for Soup
1/2 level teaspoon per cup of soup
Simmer in broth 5-7 minutes
Dry Wakame Sea Vegetable for Miso Soup
1/2 - 1 " per cup of liquid
Sea Salt for Beans
1/8 1/4 teaspoon per cup of dry beans
1/4 teaspoon per cup of black soybeans
Shoyu/Soy Sauce for Beans
1-1/2 teaspoon per cup of dry beans (if used instead of sea salt)
Miso for Beans
1-1/2 teaspoon per cup of dry beans (if used instead of sea salt)
Sea Salt for Rice
1 1 finger pinch per cup of dry rice (3 pinches equals
_ teaspoon)
Kombu Sea Vegetable for Rice
1 square inch dry kombu per cup of dry rice (for use instead of sea
salt)
Sea Salt when making Pressed Salad
1 teaspoon per 2 cups chopped, packed vegetables (Rinse very well
after pressing)
Umeboshi Vinegar when making Pressed Salad
3 teaspoons per 2 cups of chopped vegetables (Rinse very well after
pressing) |