Recipe by Lee Carroll, BHSc (WHM), BSc
What Happens When Mushrooms Meet Miso? Ancient Ingredients, Modern Microbiomes
Some foods seem to belong together.
Not because a recipe says so, but because generations of cooks arrived at the same combination independently. Fermented foods, mushrooms, broths, sea vegetables, and aromatics appear together throughout East Asian food traditions with remarkable consistency.
Today, nutritional science is beginning to explain why.
Many of these ingredients share something in common: they interact with the ecosystem living inside us. Rather than supplying a single nutrient or targeting a single pathway, they contribute to the health of the gut microbiome, a vast community of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms that influence digestion, immunity, metabolism, and even aspects of brain function.
Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus) is perhaps best known for its effects on the nervous system, but part of that story begins in the gut. Its fibres act as prebiotics, helping to shape microbial communities that produce metabolites involved in immune regulation and communication along the gut–brain axis. It also contains unique compounds known as hericenones, as well as ergothioneine, a specialised antioxidant that accumulates in tissues exposed to high levels of oxidative stress.
Tremella (Tremella fuciformis) contributes a different but complementary set of compounds. Rich in distinctive polysaccharides, Tremella has attracted attention for its ability to support healthy skin structure and healthy ageing. Like Lion’s Mane, it also appears to exert some of its effects through the microbiome, helping nourish beneficial bacteria and the compounds they produce.
Then there’s miso.
Created through the fermentation of soybeans, miso transforms a simple legume into a food with remarkable culinary complexity. Fermentation changes flavour, texture, and digestibility, producing the rich savoury character known as umami. While modern science continues to explore the broader health implications of fermented foods, diets rich in fermented foods have been associated with increased microbial diversity and beneficial shifts within the gut ecosystem.
Which brings us to this bowl.
A nourishing broth layered with miso, Lion’s Mane, Tremella, wakame seaweed, ginger, and mackerel is more than the sum of its ingredients. It brings together foods that have long traditions of use and, increasingly, scientific interest.
Not because any one ingredient is a miracle.
But because health is often built through combinations: fibres that nourish microbes, fermented foods that increase dietary diversity, antioxidants that support cellular resilience, and simple meals that people enjoy enough to eat regularly.
Sometimes the most interesting nutrition isn’t found in a supplement bottle.
Sometimes it’s sitting in a bowl of soup.
Ingredients
- Miso paste
- Real Mushrooms Lion’s Mane powder
- Real Mushrooms Tremella powder
- Mirin
- Toasted sesame oil
- Hot water
- Canned mackerel, drained
- Cooked and cooled rice noodles or rice
- Fresh ginger, finely diced
- Wakame seaweed, soaked
- Homemade chicken stock, heated
- Kimchi, to serve
- Green onion, finely sliced
- Fresh coriander
- Fried shallots
- Toasted black sesame seeds
Method
- Place the miso, Lion’s Mane powder, Tremella powder, mirin and sesame oil into a serving bowl.
- Add a small amount of hot water and stir until a smooth paste forms.
- Add the mackerel, rice noodles, ginger and wakame.
- Pour over the hot chicken stock and stir gently to combine.
- Finish with green onion, coriander, fried shallots and toasted black sesame seeds.
- Serve immediately with added kimchi.