Yuzu Sauce

Yuzu sauce is an important part of Japanese cuisine - but have you ever wondered just what it's made from?

Yuzu is actually a citrus fruit that resembles a small grapefruit. It has a wonderful flavor - a mixture of mandarin, grapefruit and lime - so it's quite tart and smells delicious.

In Japanese cooking it's used in much the same way as lemon would be in the western world, with the juice or zest adding an aromatic pop of flavor to dishes.

Yuzu sauce - sometimes referred to as ponzu - is made by mixing yuzu juice with honey and soy, creating that lovely mix of sweet and salty flavors that make Japanese cuisine so divine. 

You can even find yuzu in alcoholic drinks - it's mixed with honey and used to make yuzu sour, for example.

Yuzu is used in Korean cuisine, too, but is known as 'yuja' instead.

Yuzu is good for you!

It contains lots of important nutrients, including a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, plus certain plant compounds that act like antioxidants in the body. 

Some experts have even hailed yuzu as a 'superfood', because it offers so many health benefits!

What is yuzu sauce used for?

It makes a great dipping sauce, working perfectly with fish and beef, and is cropping up more and more often in western recipes. This is good, because it means that commercially made yuzu sauce is becoming easier to get hold of!

Here are some great ways to incorporate yuzu sauce into your meals...

• Make a yuzu salad dressing: Just mix the sauce with rice wine vinegar and sesame oil

• Rub it onto grilled meat when it's resting, before serving

• Use as a marinade for chicken or fish (it's especially good with raw fish in sushi)

• Add a little splash to rice for a big boost of flavor

How to use yuzu juice

It's not easy to get hold of yuzu as it's something of a specialty ingredient and can be expensive if you find it! In the absence of fresh yuzu, you can use bottled yuzu juice in all sorts of dishes...

• Add to alcohol for a lovely pop of tart flavor

• Drizzle over cooked noodles

• Add to mayonnaise for an interesting twist of flavor

• Use it in any recipe that calls for citrus juice