Yuzu kosho
Also known as yuzukosho, yuzu koshō, yuzu chilli paste
Paste
Quick answer
A Japanese paste of yuzu peel, fresh chillies and salt, and nothing else. It comes from Kyushu, where "kosho" means chilli rather than pepper, and it is used in tiny amounts to give hot pot, yakitori and sashimi a sharp citrus heat.
In essentially every version: Yuzu peel, Fresh chilli, Salt.
2 distinct versions are set out below. None of them is presented as the correct one, because there isn’t one.
What goes into it
What essentially every version is made from, with what each ingredient is there to do.
| Ingredient | Role | How essential |
|---|---|---|
| YuzuThe zest only — the fragrant outer layer — minced very fine. Green, unripe yuzu for green kosho; ripe yellow yuzu for red. | primary aromatic | defining |
| Bird's eye chilliSmall, hot fresh chillies, green or red to match the peel. Bird’s eye is the nearest widely available match. Around Amagase a kind that bears its fruit pointing downwards is grown for the paste from saved seed; chillies of the upward-pointing hawk’s-claw kind are thought too hot for it. | heat | defining |
| SaltA substantial share, which cures the paste. A maker and teacher of it in Oita reports that commercial pastes are mostly adjusted to about 20 per cent salt, that she has met households using far more and others very little, and that below about 15 per cent the paste dries out and spoils more easily. | salt | defining |
Low in composition and high in character. Three ingredients define it, and what varies is ripeness and method. It began as green thinned fruit with green chillies; green yuzu with red chillies, yellow yuzu with red chillies and yellow yuzu with yellow chillies are all now made. Some households grate the peel and others pare it with a knife, thin or thick, and the chillies go in with their seeds, without them, or without seeds and pith. The salt differs as well.
The versions
Each attributed, with how firm its proportions are stated plainly.
Green yuzu kosho
Regional traditionKyushu, and the commonest form · proportions representative · medium confidence
Unripe green yuzu peel with green chillies and salt, pounded and left to mature. Sharp, grassy and hot. Proportions are representative, by weight.
| Ingredient | Parts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Yuzu peel | 2 | 59% |
| Fresh chilli | 1 | 29% |
| Salt | 0.3–0.5 | 12% |
Red yuzu kosho
Regional traditionKyushu, made later in the season · proportions representative · medium confidence
Ripe yellow yuzu peel with red chillies and salt. Rounder, fruitier and a little less sharp.
| Ingredient | Parts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Yuzu peel | 2 | 59% |
| Fresh chilli | 1 | 29% |
| Salt | 0.3–0.5 | 12% |
Using it
A dab on the side of the plate, or a little dissolved into a broth or dipping sauce. In Oita it used to go mainly with hot pots and miso soup, and it is set beside the local dumpling soup as a matter of course; as it travelled it came to be served with sashimi and gyoza, in bars, and now in Italian and French restaurants. It is added at the end and not cooked, because heat drives off the yuzu aroma.
That it is not cooked is standard kitchen practice and follows from the volatility of the citrus aroma; the article does not say so.
Intensely citrus and floral from the yuzu zest, hot from the chilli and salty — a small amount goes a long way. Green is sharp and grassy; red is rounder and fruitier.
Hot, used in very small quantities.
- Dango-jiru, the dumpling soup of Oita
- Nabe (hot pot) and shabu-shabu
- Miso soup
- Sashimi
- Gyoza
- Yakitori and grilled meat
- Udon and soba broths
The first five are from the article read. Yakitori and noodle broths are kitchen practice, not taken from it.
Scaling: Scale by the peel. Chilli heat varies, so add chilli to taste rather than strictly by ratio, and keep the salt share for keeping quality.
What to use it on
Chicken
StrongA dab of yuzu kosho beside yakitori and in chicken hot pot is the most common way it is eaten in Japan; the citrus and chilli cut through grilled fat.
How: Yakitori; Chicken nabe
Yuzu kosho compared
Direct comparisons with the blends and spices it is most often taken for.
Storage
Good for: not established
In the fridge once opened.
Faded aroma is a quality matter; the salt makes spoilage uncommon, but mould means discard.
Allergens and safety
Not among the substances that must be declared as allergens under EU Regulation 1169/2011 Annex II or under the United States major food allergen rules. That is a statement about labelling law and not about whether allergy occurs: allergic reactions to spices are documented in the clinical literature and are simply not a labelling category. Where a ground spice presents an allergen risk it is usually through adulteration or shared processing equipment rather than through the plant itself.
Culture and origin
Kyushu, in southern Japan, where it began as a seasoning made at home and handed on by word of mouth. That makes a birthplace hard to fix. The account most often given places it at Amagase in Hita, Oita Prefecture; others credit farm women selling it on the approach to a shrine there, the mountain ascetics of Mount Hiko, or Saga or Kumamoto. It is said to date from the early years of the Showa era. In northern Kyushu kosho means chilli, which is why a paste containing no pepper is called "yuzu pepper"; black pepper was called foreign kosho there.
One practitioner’s account, offered by her as her own view. The place names are romanised here from the Japanese.
Kyushu
Kyushu, Japan.
A regional speciality of Ōita and Fukuoka, made in yuzu season and eaten with hot pot through the winter. Its spread across Japan and abroad is recent.