Japanese Food Ingredients - Part 1

The ingredients used in Japanese cuisine are unique. The Japanese enjoy everything, and create flavors umami unknown across the land. In this article, we will look at some of the best known ingredients used in Japanese cuisine.

1. Japanese rice

Japanese rice has a unique flavor and slightly sticky texture that is critical for dishes like sushi. There are two main types of Japanese rice. Uruchimai a common rice that is slightly sticky. It's the Mochigome a more sticky variety of rice that is used to make mochi and similar foods, such as dango. Japan specializes in rice dishes, it is common to eat rice even for breakfast.

2. Shoyu

The famous Japanese soy sauce is used in droves in almost every recipe, even sweet recipes. It adds another dimension to the flavor known as umami.

3. Dashi

Dashi is an umami-rich broth used in Japanese cuisine. Typically, dashi contains one or more of the following substances: glutamic acid, inosinic acid and guanosine acid. Dashi can be extracted from animals, vegetables, mushrooms and seaweed.

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4. Miso

Miso is a traditional ingredient of Japanese cuisine made from the fermentation of rice, barley and soy with salt. The result is a paste used mainly to make miso soup or miso soup (味噌汁, Misoshiru), dissolved in hot water, mixed with some vegetables.

5. Soy

Japan uses humble soy in many ways. In Basic ingredients like tofu, soy sauce, miso, natto, aburaage and Yuba are all soy foods.

6. Anko

Anko is a paste of azuki beans. It is used to replace sugar and serves as an ingredient in most Japanese sweets.

7. Daikon

These are giant Japanese radishes that can be found hanging to dry all over Japan.

8. Katsuobushi

Katsuobushi are a dry canned tuna meat. In Japanese cuisine, it is grated into chips and then used to prepare broths or to top dishes such as okonomiyaki, takoyaki and salads. 

9. Kombu

It is a type of seaweed that is valued for its umami flavor. As with most umami ingredients, it is very important for Japanese cuisine.

10. Negi

often confused with chives, negi is a type of Japanese leek. Negi is quite popular in Japan.

11. Yuzu

Yuzu is a Japanese, bitter citrus fruit that is widely used as a flavor in Japanese cuisine. Its peels and juice are used more often than the pulp of the fruit. Yuzu vinegar is another popular way to add the bitter zest of yuzu to food.

12. Wasabi

The hot root that is related to horseradish and mustard. Wasabi are grown in Japan and sold fresh in the market. It is a special plant, which needs special conditions and lots of water to grow. Its use is known to digest raw fish, and its taste may be pleasant to some and fearful to others.

13. Panko