What Is Yuzu?

• Yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit used in Japanese and Chinese cooking. Called bitter orange, sour orange or bitter lemon, depending on regional traditions, yuzu looks like a pale green to yellow lemon. With a flavor like a mixture of lemon and lime, but less intensely tart, yuzu brings a balance of sweet and tart fruity flavors to ponzu sauce. Not widely grown in the West, yuzu may be difficult for American cooks to find. Fortunately, ponzu sauce will stand in the place of yuzu in recipes that call for a combination of soy and yuzu.

What Is Umami?

• Umami describes the reaction of human taste buds to glutamate. Often described as meaty, umami is a strong flavor component of meats, seafood and some vegetables like soy beans and mushrooms. The fermented soy beans that comprise soy sauce are often the introduction of umami flavor to Western palates. Although in homemade ponzu, other ingredients provide the umami flavor, results are similar to the taste of soy sauce.

Homemade Ponzu

• Homemade ponzu is based on the juice of yuzu fruit, rice vinegar and mirin or sake wine for its sweet, fruity qualities. In the absence of yuzu, recipes suggest Meyer lemon juice, a mixture of lemon and lime or even lemon, lime and grapefruit juices. Rice wine is included more for its sweetness than its tartness. Salty or umami flavors are created by soaking dried salted bonito tuna flakes and seaweed in the juice-wine mixture, then straining out flakes and fruit seeds. Store the strained mixture in the refrigerator. Unless ingredients are readily available, homemade ponzu may not be a convenient substitute for every recipe using citrus and soy together.

Commercially-Available Ponzu Sauce

• Rather than derive its umami entirely from fish and seaweed, commercially-produced ponzu sauce lists soy sauce as its major ingredient. Brands found on American supermarket shelves further substitute the extracts of oranges, lemons and limes for the less-accessible yuzu fruit. Manufacturers have therefore already made the substitutions you might be challenged to make in your own kitchen, and the sauce can be used when a mixture of soy and citrus is required.