日本食調味料 (Nihonshoku Choumiryou) -Japanese food seasoning

7th May –皐月

Japanese food have very unique tastes compared to the other countries.

There is a specific words to explain Japanese basic seasoning – さしすせそ (Sa Shi Su Se So) yes, if you know the Japanese letters, you probably feel familiar to those word!

Each letters explain main seasonings for 和食 (Washoku).

さ for 砂糖 (Satou) – sugar

(*sometimes it might be considered as 酒 (sake) – rice wine)

し for 塩 (Shio) – Salt

す for 酢 (Su) -Vinegar

せ for 醤油 (Seuyu) – Soy Sauce

(*Nowadays, 醤油 is pronounced as Shouyu, however in the old time it was said as Seuyu therefore it was chosen for せ)

そ for 味噌 (Miso) – Bean paste

Those 5 seasonings are the basics for 和食. If putting those in order as さしすせそ, it is believed to give the perfect tastes to the food. This is because 和食 have many 煮物 (Nimono =boiled food), and sugar is the one to take the most time to soak in to the food, on the other hand Miso is the last one to add flavor to the food.

Other than さしすせそ, there are more seasonings that are used in 和食.

みりん (Mirin) – sugar with rice wine, Mirin gives food a sweet taste and shiny looks.

中濃ソース (Chuunou Sauce) – vegetable and spices mixed sauce, it has spicy and fruity taste, perfect for pork cutlet!

酒 (Sake) – rice wine, it takes the meat / fish smell off from the food.

出汁 (dashi) – Umami from seafoods. One of the easiest way to get dashi is putting dried bonito flakes into the boiled water. Taking out the bonito flakes and the left water is dashi.

マヨネーズ (Mayonnaise) – Japanese Mayo has acidity in it, different to the western mayo. It is used for many food such as salad, okonomiyaki, takoyaki and more!

Now you know the basic seasonings for Japanese food, why don’t you cook 和食 today?:)