A Small Japanese Village Produces the Best Ponzu Sauce Brand in the World, and You Need It

If you know a panty thief, this product will have you feeling like them because, like them, you will want to keep sniffing the bottle of this yuzu ponzu.

OUT OF ALL THE PRODUCTS I HAVE EVER HAD (oh, I’m yelling, so that they can hear it in from the back), this is going to be the only product to date that I believe is life-changing and better than any other yuzu ponzu out there. The scent it emits right when you open the bottle is amazing, and if you want to try and wrap your head around that, imagine the hottest girl (or dude) you can think of, and it is laundry day, you pervert.

Umaji-Mura (Village) Yuzu Ponzu… Sauce

Umaji is the name of the village in the Kochi prefecture of Japan in the Shikoku region, and they produce the best yuzu ponzu that I have ever had. NOTE: I should point out that most Americans will say “ramen noodles” or “ponzu sauce,” but that would be like saying spaghetti pasta, or ketchup sauce which is redundant. So I will just being saying ponzu as opposed to “ponzu sauce” because ponzu is a sauce and so is ketchup… ketchup sauce, Murica.

Photo Description: a line of bottles with clear bottles, yellow labels, and a light green top is the packaging for Umaji Mura yuzu ponzu. — BEHOLD human, this is best yuzu ponzu on the planet and potentially eight other planets.

Life Changing Yuzu Ponzu

Yea, yea, yea, sure its life-changing, and I know you are skeptical as to how good it is, because like you, I have had several products that were only nominally better, but not anything so great to the point you want to go home and write about it.

How do you like them yuzu’s. Image by **Goat Tree Designs** via Flickr

The Umaji Mura Yuzu Ponzu Ingredients

360ml bottle.

Contains honjozo shoyu
Jozo vinegar
Fructose glucose syrup
Dried bonito extract
Seaweed extract
Mirin
Seasoning including amino acid
Sake
Sweetener and soy wheat.

Also, according to the article by Nippon (below), several of the producers in the village are employing organic farming standards which are dictated by the Japanese Agricultural Organic Standard (JAS).

There Are Several Japanse Types of Citrus for Ponzu in General

We Americans have our lemons and limes, and the Japanese also have their versions which are sudachi (very limelike) and yuzu which I consider superior to a lemon due to it being less sour and more on the umami end in terms of flavor.

Photo Description: a picture of Umaji Mura which is a small village in the Kochi prefecture in Japan. — Image by Saigen Jiro, creative commons.

In the Kochi Prefecture of Japan, There is a Small Village Named Umaji, Population 900

According to Nippon.com, the town went from 3,200 at the start of the millenium to a only 900. BTW, I highly suggest you read their full article which is very thorough “The Enterprising Village at the Heart of the “Yuzu” Boom.“

What I Recommend You Use it For

At $9-12a pop, I go sparingly with it, but when I do use it, I highly recommend you use it for:

Japanese Dishes

Shabu shabu
Hamachi kama

Other Uses

On almost any type of meat such as pork chops, steaks, chicken, to seafood (white fish, oysters, scallops, to even salmon).
As a salad dressing
Obviously anything you want a citrus soy sauce for.

Where to Buy Umaji Mura Yuzu From

This is the tough part because it is not widely available since it does come from a small Japanese village although most Japanese markets carry it in coastal cities.

For the full list of markets, you can check out my post Top Japanese Supermarkets in SoCal (I buy it from Tokyo Central because their in-store experience is good, but their online store is not the best place to buy it from).

WARNING: buying it off of Amazon.com or through a number of online sites, I have seen some RIDICULOUS pricing ($39.80 for ONE bottle!), so I have been looking into the feasibility of selling this product through my website if I get enough inquiries/demand.