Cook and Drink

When you shop at an Asian supermarket, you will see many products with yuzu: ponzu, yuzu dressing, jelly with yuzu flavour, yuzu marmalade, yuzu soy sauce, yuzu tea and even yuzu skincare. Probably the shop will also sell fresh yuzu juice. And if you’re lucky, they will have the real thing: yuzu!

Yuzu (Citrus Junos) is a citrus fruit and it looks like a small lemon or clementine, with an uneven skin. It is of Chinese origin and it was introduced in Japan during the Nara period (710-794). It’s expensive (we saw them on the market for 5 euro a piece), they have lots of seeds and very little juice. The flavour is tart but gentle, very aromatic and will make you think of mandarin, only different. The peel is as delicious as the juice. The combination of flavors and fragrancy makes it a unique citrus. Not a fruit to eat on its own. Use it to add freshness and aroma to a dish or sauce.

Yuzu juice costs between 30 and 100 euro per liter (because of the small amount of juice per yuzu) and therefore products with yuzu tend to be expensive. If not, check the label and make sure it contains yuzu. Especially ponzu shoyu (made with mirin, rice vinegar, katsuobushi, kombu, yuzu and soy sauce) is often made with lemon.

We also noticed the term ‘yuzu style’ which is a clear indication no yuzu is used. We spotted a bottle of Yuzu Style Dressing. It contains mandarin, lemon, apple, vinegar and lots of other ingredients, but no yuzu.

We bought our yuzu at a farmers’ market and on our way back home we thought about things to make with it. Perhaps our own yuzu kosho (a paste made with chili, yuzu and salt)? Or combine it with miso and cod? Or yuzu syllabub (with cream and sugar)?

Why not panna cotta?

What You Need

• 500 ml Cream
• 30 ml Yuzu Juice
• 10 ml Lemon Juice
• Yuzu Zest
• 25 grams of Sugar
• 3,5 leaves of Gelatine (5,25 grams)

What You Do (for 4)

1. Slowly bring the cream to the boil.
2. Keep close to boiling for 15 minutes. Stir when necessary.
3. Add the juice and some of the zest.
4. Remove from the heat and while stirring add sugar until totally dissolved.
5. Follow the instruction of the gelatine and add the leaves.
6. Stir well until homogeneous.
7. Cool the liquid somewhat before filling the forms. We used a silicone mold. Nice and easy! The only thing you need to do is to make the mold a bit moist with water.
8. Let the panna cotta cool and then store in the refrigerator until set.
9. Don’t forget to seal with cling foil, otherwise your panna cotta will absorb aromas from other food in the refrigerator.
10. Decorate with yuzu zest.

PS

• If you can’t find yuzu or find them too expensive, then use 30 ml Lemon Juice and 10 ml Mandarin (or Clementine) Juice.
• The amount of gelatine you need is a bit tricky. The acidity of the yuzu will thicken the cream and it will reduce the gelling effect of the gelatine. We decided to use the normal quantity.