Ponzu: Japanese Citrus Soy Sauce Explained

What is in ponzu

Strictly speaking, ponzu is only the mixture of citrus juice and vinegar, flavored with kombu and katsuobushi. What you buy as ponzu in the West is usually called ponzu shoyu in Japan, because soy sauce is added. In daily speech even Japanese people just say ponzu.

The typical ingredients:

• Citrus juice: traditionally yuzu, sudachi, kabosu or daidai, Japanese citrus fruits with a lot of aroma in the peel
• Rice vinegar for extra acidity
• Mirin for a light sweetness
• Kombu and katsuobushi (dried bonito) for umami
• Soy sauce for salt and color

The name goes back to the Dutch word "pons," which meant a drink made with citrus juice. The ending "zu" means vinegar.

Flavor

Ponzu tastes brighter and fresher than plain soy sauce. The acidity comes first, followed by salt, a little sweetness and a smoky fish note from the katsuobushi. With yuzu the sauce smells floral, with sudachi greener and sharper. The consistency is thin like soy sauce.

Store-bought ponzu varies a lot. Some bottles taste mostly of soy sauce with only a hint of citrus, others are so sour that you should stretch them with a little dashi or water. Taste your bottle straight from a spoon before you pour it over a dish. For salads and sesame dips the sauce can be strong. For delicate fish or tofu, choose a mild one or dilute it.

How to use it in the kitchen

Most often ponzu shows up on the table as a dip. With shabu shabu you dip thinly sliced meat and vegetables into it, and the same goes for yosenabe. With gyoza, many people mix ponzu with a few drops of chili oil.

More ideas:

• drizzle over hiyayakko or yudofu
• with briefly seared beef or tuna (tataki)
• as a quick salad dressing with a little sesame oil
• over grilled fish, fried mushrooms or steamed vegetables
• as a marinade for chicken, just before cooking

Do not cook ponzu for long, because the citrus note fades with heat. Add the sauce at the end or cold.

Making ponzu yourself

Homemade ponzu tastes fresher than most store-bought kinds. You will find our basic recipe under ponzu, light soy citrus sauce, and a variation with the Japanese lime sudachi under sudachi ponzu.

1. Mix soy sauce, citrus juice, rice vinegar and mirin in a jar.
2. Add a piece of kombu and a handful of katsuobushi.
3. Cover and let steep in the fridge, at least overnight.
4. Strain through a fine sieve and pour into a clean bottle.

Without yuzu or sudachi, a mix of lemon and lime juice works. A little grated zest adds more aroma. The sauce becomes vegetarian if you leave out the katsuobushi and steep a dried shiitake mushroom instead.

Substitute if you have no ponzu

For a quick fix, mix soy sauce and lemon juice about one to one and add a splash of rice vinegar and a little mirin or a pinch of sugar. The fish note is missing then, but as a dip that is still fine. Mentsuyu with lemon juice comes closer to the original because it already contains dashi.

Allergens

Ponzu generally contains soy, and through the soy sauce wheat, so gluten. Katsuobushi is fish. If you avoid gluten, mix the sauce yourself with tamari, which is often made without wheat. Check the label for that.

Buying and storage

You can buy ponzu at an Asian grocery store, in online shops for Japanese food and, by now, in the Asian aisle of some well-stocked supermarkets. Compare the ingredient lists: good ponzu names real citrus juice near the top. Bottles with yuzu cost more but taste much more aromatic than versions with lemon juice concentrate.

Unopened, store ponzu cool and dark. Once opened, the bottle belongs in the fridge, because the citrus aroma fades over time. Use up homemade ponzu within a few weeks.