The International Space Station completed an experiment that confirmed that the space environment could ferment soybean mixtures into miso, and found that the taste was very different from that of miso fermented on Earth.

這條烹飪之路始於2020年3月，當時一個國際團隊將裝有大豆、米曲（Rice Koji）、鹽混合物的小包裹送到國際空間站，宇航員隨即負責進行實驗，確認這些混合物能否發酵，形成我們熟悉、具高營養價值的味噌。

After 30 days, the fermented miso was returned to Earth, where it was further analyzed in the laboratory for chemical and microbial composition to check for any potentially harmful microorganisms, and of course the researchers also tasted the space miso flavor and compared it to miso fermented on Earth in the same batch.

According to a new paper recently published in the journal iScience, 14 people, including chefs and researchers, said that space miso has a stronger nutty flavor than earth miso.

The researchers pointed out that the strong nutty flavor may be related to pyrazine, and the reason for the more pyrazine in space miso may be due to the temperature difference accelerating fermentation.

The 3 miso models compared all contained similar microorganisms, but one microorganism was only found in space miso; In addition, the fungus in space miso has more genetic mutations than in earth miso, possibly due to the higher amount of radiation in space.

(The header image is for schematic purposes only, not Taiku Miso himself, source: pixabay)