Miso.

BBC - Food - Miso recipes:
Miso paste is a hugely useful pantry staple.
Miso, like yogurt, is a live food packed with bacteria that’s good for you.
The are lots of varieties of miso.
When buying miso, choose the unpasteurised, live, enzyme-rich product that will need to be stored in the fridge.
This type is loaded with beneficial microorganisms.
After opening, the texture, colour and flavour may change so keep an eye on it.
Some can be kept for quite a long time without any concerns or variations to quality.
Buyer's guide
The range of miso varieties available can be daunting for the novice buyer, but many supermarkets and most specialist shops in Britain will stock a basic selection.
The most common types are:
- Light-yellow miso (Shinshu miso), which ranges in colour from light yellow to yellow-brown.
It's the most common type of miso and is relatively mild in flavour.
It's very versatile and can be used in all types of dishes.
- Red miso (often sold as aka miso), which actually ranges from red to dark brown in appearance and has a strong, salty flavour.
It too is very versatile and suited to all types of dishes, from soup to dressings and dips and in cooked dishes.
- Sweet white miso (usually sold as shiro miso) is sweeter and lighter in taste, colour and texture.
It's always smooth in texture and is more suited to use in salad dressings, spreads and marinades.
It's fermented for a much shorter time (two to eight weeks) than other miso types, which are usually fermented for three years or more.
- Light-yellow or red miso should not be substituted in recipes that call for sweet white miso.
- Another type of miso, called hatcho miso, is perhaps the most highly regarded (and expensive) miso.
This rich, dark, thick variety is made only from soya beans and a special type of koji.
Other types you might see are mugi miso, which is made from barley and soya beans.
It often has a chunky texture and is good in soups and stews.
Genmai miso (brown rice miso), made from brown rice and soya beans, has a rich, earthy, slightly nutty flavour.
Korean grocers will sell a spicy type of bean paste called kochu jang (or gochujang), which is flavoured with red chilli and is great for giving a kick to sauces and marinades.