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The Japanese Pantry - Yugeta Shoyu - Double Brewed Soy Sauce - 360 mL
Regular price $20.00 USDRegular price -
The Japanese Pantry - Spice Tin For Yuzu Shichimi Togarashi
Regular price $9.50 USDRegular price -
The Japanese Pantry - Hanamaruki - Liquid Shio Koji - 500 mL
Regular price $12.50 USDRegular price -
The Japanese Pantry - Wadaman - Black Sesame Oil - 300 mL
Regular price $42.50 USDRegular price
About The Japanese Pantry
- Known for
- curated ingredients from artisanal Japanese producers
The Japanese Pantry is a shop of Japanese ingredients, founded by Greg Dunmore and Chris Bonomo. Dunmore is a San Francisco chef who owned and cooked at the izakaya Nojo and, over decades of travel in Japan, built close relationships with artisanal producers. Bonomo is a home cook who first went to Japan in 2007 and has gone back many times to meet makers. Many of the ingredients they import had never been available in North America.
The company says its aim is to connect those producers with curious cooks by sharing their ingredients and the stories of the people behind them.
The Japanese Pantry questions
What is koji?
Koji is rice inoculated with a mold, Aspergillus oryzae, which is so central to Japanese food that it has been called Japan's national fungus. Soy sauce makers add koji mold to soybeans and wheat, and as soybeans ferment, their protein breaks down into amino acids, including glutamic acid, a source of the savory taste called umami. Shio koji, made by adding water and salt to koji, is used to marinate and tenderize meats and to season broths.
What is katsuobushi?
Katsuobushi is bonito, an ocean fish, that is simmered and then smoke-dried in many rounds. A higher grade, called honkarebushi, is then coated with mold and sun-dried in repeated steps over about four months, and the result is known as the hardest food in the world. It is shaved into paper-thin flakes. Added to stock made from kombu, a dried kelp, the flakes make dashi, a Japanese soup stock rich in the savory taste called umami.
