Japanese Food Tips

As far as citrus fruits used for cooking throughout the world, lemon and lime are very famous. However, in Japan, there are other citrus fruits used such as yuzu, kabosu and sudachi. The most popular of these is yuzu which has two main types - honyuzu and hanayuzu. The tangerine–sized orange honyuzu is about 100 to 130 g, while the much smaller yellow hanayuzu is about 50 to 70 g. They are both moderately sour, with honyuzu being slightly stronger in acidity. Both are quite fragrant. The tennis ball–sized green kabosu is about 100 to 150 g. The golf ball–sized green sudachi is about 30 to 40 g. The shapes of all the fruits are round and the contents have seeds. The skins are green in early stages and change to orange or yellow when ripe. Although the taste of all of these fruits is not too sour, they are never eaten. The juice is often substituted for vinegar used in ponzu sauce which is used in one-pot dishes, or is squeezed over grilled fish. The skin is often sprinkled as a decoration on osuimono (Japanese clear soup) or chawan-mushi (egg dish steamed in a cup) and is also often served as tsukemono (Japanese pickles) or mixed into miso sauce. Citrus fruits are used in Japanese cooking for both fragrance and flavor.