Ponzu is citrus seasoning! From the Netherlands and changed
Ponzu is made from citrus juice, soy sauce and vinegar
Ponzu is composed of citrus juice, soy sauce, and vinegar. Most of the citrus fruits are lemon, lime, yuzu, sudachi, and kabosu in japan.
Ponzu comes from Dutch
“Pon” in ponzu is a Dutch word, but it was originally derived from ‘ पांच ‘ (paanch), which stands for 5 in Sanskrit, India.
What is 5? Since there were five types of ingredients contained in stomach medicine, this stomach medicine came to be called ‘ पांच ‘ (paanch), and when it was introduced to the Netherlands, it changed to “pons”.
The five ingredients are black tea, lemon juice, water, sugar, salt, spices, etc.
In the Netherlands, it was taken as an apéritif, not as a stomach medicine.
Furthermore, when this was introduced to England, it came to be called “punch”. In Japan, fruit salad made from fruits and soda is called fruit punch.
In other words, “pons” and “punch” refer to citrus liquids.
Pons was transmitted to Japan via the Netherlands
It was called “Ponsu” because ‘ पांच ‘ (paanch) was transmitted to Japan via the Netherlands.
In Japan, Pons was used as an apéritif as in the Netherlands, but it did not spread in Japan because there was no custom of drinking alcohol before meals.
By the way, many things are transmitted via China or Portugal in Japan. Perhaps Ponzu did not exist if the route was different. It is interesting.
It was not familiar with cooking with citrus fruits in Japan
Currently, citrus dishes are popular, but until around 200 years ago, It was not familiar with citrus dishes in Japan. As explained above, Pons was not popular in Japan. Therefor it was added with soy sauce and vinegar so that it could be stored for a long time. vinegar called ‘ Su ‘ in japanese, from that point on, vinegar came to be applied to ‘ su ‘ in Pons, changes in pronunciation peculiar to Japanese, it became known as Ponzu.
What kind of food is ponzu used for?
Ponzu is often used in tofu and hot pot dishes. Rather than using it during cooking, it is generally added to the finished dish, like sushi. (Of course, sushi is basically used soy sauce. Depending on the sushi restaurant, some sushi can be eaten with ponzu depending on the type of fish.)
Vave introduce the recipe that used Ponzu!
Ponzu is a seasoning with a fresh citrus flavor. Let’s use Ponzu!
Vave introduce the recipe that used Ponzu!
(The image is Traditional dish that Nameko and grated Daikon radish)