19. Plum soy sauce 100ml

A brewery full of commitment

Okubo Brewery in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, is a small brewery that is packed with the utmost attention to detail.

The raw materials area is piled high with soybeans, wheat, salt, and rice, all with their origin and grade clearly marked. There are a variety of graded brands, including local Nagano soybeans such as "Tsubuhomare," "Ginrei," and "Tachinagaha," Aomori's "Okushirome" and "Ryuho," Niigata's "Enrei," and more, as well as Gifu, Ishikawa, Yamagata, and more. The salt is also domestically produced, and is "Shima Mars" from Okinawa.

Their commitment doesn't end with the ingredients. When I went to tour the brewery, I could tell at a glance that this was different from any other soy sauce brewery I had seen before. The outside of the barrels was a beautiful dark brown and shiny. This was because they were coated with lacquer, and the brewer explained, "Soy sauce is made by microorganisms. Some of them are bad, so I want to only value the microorganisms that live inside the barrels." By coating the barrels with lacquer, they prevent bacteria from attaching, and by embedding tons of charcoal in the floor and walls, they are thorough in preventing moisture from building up, so there is no moldy smell that is common in old breweries.

Red plum vinegar made with Ryujin plums from Wakayama Prefecture

The only ingredients are red plum vinegar, soy sauce, and mirin. The red plum vinegar used is made from Ryujin plums from Wakayama Prefecture, a member of the "Association for Proper Taste Creation," and is full of Okubo's unique attention to quality ingredients. The umeboshi are made from green plums grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and are full of citric acid, resulting in traditional sour umeboshi, without the use of food additives or chemical seasonings.

It is made with Okubo Brewery's soy sauce (Kodai no Hishio) as a base, seasoned with red plum vinegar and mirin, so it is not too salty or sour, and has a gentle taste that simply retains the flavor of the ingredients. It has a nice aroma, so you can use it as a dressing for salads or on grilled fish.

If you love plums, here's a great way to eat them.

This is the way to eat it that was introduced in the Kinki Kids' Bun Bun Boon segment "Soy sauce to go with rice." All you have to do is pour the plum soy sauce directly onto warm rice. You'll feel the presence of the plum and the strong aroma, to the point that you'll wonder if there's a plum inside. You can also enjoy the aroma even more by mixing the plum soy sauce with bonito flakes before putting it on top of the rice. Of course, you can also use it as a rice ball filling!

Refreshing salt ramen and cold Chinese noodles

A slightly unusual way to use it is to add a little to instant salt ramen. The refreshing sourness it adds to the soup is addictive, and it's refreshing even on hot summer days.

Similarly, when it comes to noodles, you can also use it as a sauce for homemade chilled Chinese noodles. With a subtle plum flavour, you can enjoy chilled Chinese noodles that are a little different from the usual.