Kanzuri vs Yuzu kosho
The short answer
Two Japanese pastes of chilli, yuzu and salt, made in different parts of the country and by opposite means. Yuzu kosho is Kyushu’s: yuzu peel, chilli and salt pounded together, at its brightest when fresh and green, with the yuzu leading. Kanzuri is Niigata’s: red chillies salted, laid on snow, then fermented with rice koji, yuzu and salt for three years, with the chilli leading and the fermentation giving depth. One is a fresh citrus heat and the other an aged one.
Side by side
| Kanzuri | Yuzu kosho | |
|---|---|---|
| Defining ingredients | Red chillies, salted and exposed on snow, Rice koji, yuzu, salt | Yuzu peel, Fresh chilli, salt |
| Origin | Myoko, formerly Arai, in the Joetsu district of Niigata Prefecture, next to Nagano and in an area officially classed as one of especially heavy snowfall. The agriculture ministry’s register of local dishes gives Joetsu as the district where it is handed down, and a paper on Niigata’s local cooking lists it among the dishes particular to Joetsu. | 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. |
| Cuisines | Japanese | Japanese |
| Heat | Hot, and used in small amounts. | Hot, used in very small quantities. |
| Flavour | The ministry’s account says the snow draws the harshness out of the chillies and brings out savouriness, and that fermenting them with koji gives a deep flavour. The prefecture’s page says the snow softens the fibre and makes the heat milder. Both are descriptions; no measurement was read. | 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. |
| Aroma | Not established | Not established |
Which should you buy?
Kanzuri
Little that can be documented. The ministry’s page gives one list of ingredients, chillies, koji, yuzu and salt, and credits its outline of the process to one company. It adds that at first the paste was made simply, by grinding chillies and mixing in miso. No household or rival version is described in what was read, so what is said here of how it is made is one maker’s account.
Yuzu kosho
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.
Full detail on kanzuri and yuzu kosho, including evidence grades and sources for every claim above.