Soy-Cocoa nib "New Miso"

The combination sort of fell together.  In current fashion, salt and chocolate have been paired together like  bacon and eggs.  Similarly, miso--a fermented soy bean paste--has also been used in many culinary arenas from savory to sweet.  I was looking to fashion a miso like product; but not miso.  Cocoa's savory affinity as well as the fermentation and roasting of cocoa beans provided the spark with which I would then soak cocoa nibs, the cracked roasted fermented cocoa beans, in soy sauce.  After soaking for several days I pureed the two ingredients into a miso like paste.  The cocoa's compexities married with the salinity and savory nature of the soy sauce to blend into what I have called new miso.  NO it its not miso, though we are harnessing flavors and aromas in the style of miso to have a distinctive cooking base.

We used it recently to coat espelette pepper noodles with butter and pickled ginger juice and served it with basil infused snails and slow cooked leeks.