Yuzu Ponzu and Why Japan Never Gets Bored of Soy Sauce

Secrets to keeping traditional flavors interesting, while keeping it simple

Illustrations by Kaki Okumura

Japan’s favorite winter flavor

I love soy sauce. It’s light, flavorful, and generally a great complement to foods without overpowering an ingredient’s intrinsic flavors. As a dipping sauce to fresh sashimi or an added dash to my grilled salmon — soy sauce is the perfect epitome of how simple can be better when it comes to flavor.

But like any seasoning, you can only have it so often without getting bored, which is why soy sauce is often combined with other flavors to create new ones: added wasabi for sushi, a bit of sugar in teriyaki sauce, or kombu dashi broth to noodle soup bases, just to name a few.

Each may hold their own distinct flavor profile, but they are all based on soy sauce.

So while I love a dense or sweet sauce variant on occasion, for those looking for a more interesting profile without compromising the thing that makes soy sauce so great — its light simplicity — yuzu ponzu might be the exact flavor you’ve been looking for.

Trust me, it’s Japan’s favorite winter flavor.

Easy to make as it is healthy