"Growing up, Anna Sugiyama’s family used their homemade miso in their cooking because nothing in Seattle grocery stores matched the products her father knew from home in Japan. Now, the Bellevue woman wants to share the deep flavors created by the traditional, artisanal process with a wider community through her small-batch miso company, Yoka Miso, which plans to launch June 4."
"ONE SUNNY AFTERNOON in March, the Bellevue kitchen at Anna Sugiyama’s house was abuzz with activity. Sugiyama’s sister, Maia, was whipping up a batch of miso chocolate cookies to bring to a wedding. Their dad, Shoichi, was monitoring a pressure cooker filled with soybeans, while Anna was mixing rice koji and flaky salt, prepping to make a batch of miso.
It was a comfortable, regular scene for the family — one Shoichi had been orchestrating long before Anna started the company Yoka Miso. In fact, he’s been making miso since before the girls were born, beginning in Iizuka, Japan."