Yuzu

Yuzu is a citrus fruit from East Asia, originating from the mandarin and the Ichang papeda, which grows primarily in Japan and is not eaten in cuisine, but rather zested and pressed for its peel and juice.

Yuzu is a citrus fruit from East Asia, a cross between a mandarin and an Ichang papeda, which grows primarily in Japan and is not eaten in the kitchen but rather grated and pressed for its zest and juice.

Anyone holding a yuzu for the first time expects a lemon and gets something else: a fruit barely five centimeters wide, flattened at the top, with rough, bumpy skin that ripens from green to yellow and releases an immediate fragrance when scratched. The citrus collection at the University of California, Riverside, counts an average of nearly 28 seeds per fruit and only about 18 percent juice. This is why yuzu is treated not like an orange, but like a spice. Its aroma resides in the oil glands of the rind.

Its home is in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China. It arrived in Japan via the Korean Peninsula, according to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), even before the Nara period, about 1,300 years ago. Today, Japan harvests about 27,000 tons per year, with about 52 percent coming from Kochi Prefecture. It is harvested in autumn: the green aoyuzu arrives in late summer, the yellow, juicier kiyuzu starting in November, and shipping continues until January.

What kind of flavor is yuzu?

Sour, but not just sour. The Consumer Association of Bavaria (Verbraucherzentrale Bayern) describes the aroma as a mixture of lemon, mandarin, and grapefruit, and that is how it can be read: lemon for the acidity, mandarin for the sweet scent, and grapefruit for the bitter edge. According to measurements in Riverside, the juice contains about 4.5 percent citric acid, making it distinctly sour, yet it feels rounder than lemon juice because the aroma from the zest contributes more than the acidity alone.

The easiest way to get to know this flavor is through a product that features it. The Japanese Yuzu Vinegar from Belberry consists of 60 percent vinegar and 24 percent yuzu juice, with powdered sugar added. Put a spoonful of it over two slices of cucumber and wait a minute: first comes the acidity, then the scent, and that lingers. Belberry from Kortrijk in West Flanders has been making jams since 1956 and produces twelve fruit vinegars, including this yuzu vinegar; the house mixes it with olive oil for dressing and uses it to deglaze the pan after cooking poultry.

What is the difference between a lemon and a yuzu?

Botanically, they are two different fruits. The lemon is called Citrus limon, the yuzu Citrus junos, a cross between a mandarin and the Ichang papeda, a wild citrus from China. And it can do what no lemon can: it withstands frost—according to the garden magazine Kraut & Rüben, down to about minus 9 degrees Celsius—whereas the collection in Riverside describes the Eureka lemon variety as cold-sensitive. A lemon has few to no seeds and plenty of juice; the yuzu has many seeds, little juice, and a thick, uneven rind whose oil glands carry the aroma. The lemon is a juice fruit; the yuzu is a zest fruit.

For the kitchen, this means: fresh yuzu is difficult to find in Europe; the fruit usually reaches you as juice concentrate, seasoning sauce, seasoning paste, or dried zest. Read the ingredient list, the Consumer Association advises: How high is the yuzu content, are there flavorings included, how much sugar? A vinegar whose label lists 24 percent juice tells you exactly what you are getting.

How do you eat a yuzu?

You don't, at least not like a mandarin. You grate it and press it. In Japan, the zest is finely grated over fish; the juice goes into ponzu, the seasoning sauce made of yuzu juice, vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, bonito flakes, and kombu, which is found in every kitchen in Kochi and is served with hot pot, fish, sashimi, and tofu. In Kyushu, the green zest is crushed with green chilis and salt to make yuzu-kosho, a paste for noodle soups and sashimi; kosho does not mean pepper there, but chili. Alternatively, you can preserve the fruit flesh in sugar or honey and pour boiling water over it. And the zest goes into jam.

And yuzu goes into butter. After a trip to Japan in 2006, the house of Bordier developed its churned butter with yuzu: 96 percent mild-acidified butter, with 2 percent yuzu and 2 percent salt, kneaded again after churning. Two percent is enough because fat carries aromas. Bordier places a piece of it on a cod loin cooking in foil: the sweet bitterness of the yuzu coats the fish as soon as the butter melts. Store the butter at 2 to 6 degrees and take it out half an hour before eating.

What can you use instead of yuzu?

The honest answer from the Consumer Association: for a fresh citrus note, lemons, oranges, and other citrus fruits from European harvests often do the trick. Those who want to get closer to the yuzu aroma combine them: lemon juice for acidity, a bit of finely grated mandarin or grapefruit zest for the scent. Bacanha builds its organic yuzu syrup similarly: cane sugar, water, concentrated lemon juice, yuzu juice, natural yuzu and mandarin flavor, and lime extract. Bacanha, based near Paris since 2013, calls this "sirop brut": a concentrate, less sweet and more aromatic than usual. 2 to 3 cl is enough for a glass, and one bottle lasts for 20 drinks, mixed with still or sparkling water or in a cocktail.

And for the evening: Kakuzo from Berlin, founded in 2017 by two friends, combines yuzu with mandarin in its Yuzu Gin Liqueur, based on a gin with selected botanicals, and describes the result as an interplay of delicate acidity, gentle sweetness, and a light bitter note.

The plate at the end: cod in foil with a piece of yuzu butter, alongside cucumber slices with a spoonful of yuzu vinegar, a glass of water with a splash of syrup, and for later, a yuzu tonic. All without a single fresh yuzu in the house.

Yuzu from our range: vinegar, butter, syrup, and liqueur

Starting off is the Japanese Yuzu Vinegar from Belberry with 24 percent yuzu juice, for dressings, deglazing, and over fish. The churned butter with yuzu from Bordier belongs on cod, on toast, or in a galette. The organic yuzu syrup from Bacanha turns water into lemonade and sparkling water into a cocktail; those who like both should take the Yuzu & Ginger gift set containing two bottles. And the Yuzu Gin Liqueur from Kakuzo brings the fruit into your glass, over ice, or with tonic.

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