Nihon Chomiryo Tabi
The difference between hon-mirin and mirin-style seasoning
- Hon-mirin is a brewed product: glutinous rice, rice koji and shochu are brewed together, and the koji turns the starch of the rice into sugar. At around 14% alcohol, it is genuinely a liquor.
- Mirin-style seasoning is a "liquid made to resemble mirin," blended from starch syrup, rice, brewing vinegar and so on. It is under 1% alcohol, and the method is not brewing but blending.
- Fermented seasoning (the mirin type) does contain alcohol, but salt has been added so that it cannot be drunk. The catch is that it easily throws off the salt balance of your cooking.
- The ingredient list is how you tell them apart. Choose one that lists only glutinous rice, rice koji and shochu.
Supermarket shelves carry any number of products with "mirin" in the name. Look closely at the labels, though, and you see hon-mirin, mirin-style seasoning, fermented seasoning. Things that are in fact entirely different sit side by side wearing the same face.
Once you know the difference, the finish on your simmered dishes and your teriyaki changes.
What the three "mirins" actually are
Hon-mirin is a brewed product: glutinous rice, rice koji and shochu are brewed together, and the koji slowly turns the starch of the rice into sugar. At around 14% alcohol, it is genuinely a liquor. In the Edo period it was drunk as it came, as a high-grade sweet liquor.
Mirin-style seasoning is a "liquid made to resemble mirin," blended from starch syrup, rice, brewing vinegar and so on. It is under 1% alcohol. No liquor tax falls on it, so it is cheap, but the method is blending, not brewing.
Fermented seasoning (the mirin type) does contain alcohol, but salt has been added so that it cannot be drunk. Because that salt comes with it, the catch is that it easily throws off the salt balance of your cooking.
"A sho of rice, a sho of mirin"
Even among hon-mirin, the ones brewed from pure glutinous rice, with the ingredients narrowed to rice alone, are something apart.
"Sanshu Mikawa Mirin," kept by Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, is the standard-bearer. Glutinous rice, rice koji and a full shochu the company distills itself are the only ingredients; no sugars are added at all, and the starch of the rice is saccharified and aged by the power of koji alone. "A sho of rice, a sho of mirin": a sho of mirin takes a sho of rice, which is an extravagant way to build it. (A sho is about 1.8 liters.)
Since the company was founded in 1910 (Meiji 43), the mild climate of Hekinan, the groundwater of the Yahagi River (矢作川) and the glutinous rice of Mikawa, the gifts of this particular place, have held this one bottle up.
What hon-mirin does to your cooking
- Gloss and shine: several sugars, glucose and oligosaccharides among them, form a film, and the surface of teriyaki or simmered fish gleams
- A refined sweetness: unlike the flat sweetness of sugar, it adds sweetness with depth. The "edge" on the sweetness does not stand up
- Holding shape: the alcohol tightens the structure of the ingredients, so potatoes and fish are less likely to break up
- Flavor soaking in: the alcohol carries flavor deep into the ingredient. How the seasoning enters a slow-simmered dish changes
And a hon-mirin brewed from pure glutinous rice can, in fact, be drunk as it is. The thick amber liquid is like a good dessert wine. The brewery also suggests pouring it over vanilla ice cream.
Start with one simmered dish
Take the nikujaga you always make, and make it with hon-mirin in place of mirin-style seasoning. The gloss, the quality of the sweetness, the way the flavor sinks in. That moment of "all I changed was the seasoning and it is this different" is a way into what makes Japanese cooking interesting.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between mirin-style seasoning and hon-mirin?
Hon-mirin (true mirin) is an alcoholic drink, around 14% alcohol, brewed by aging glutinous rice, rice koji and shochu, and its sweetness comes naturally from the saccharified starch of the rice. Mirin-style seasoning is blended from starch syrup, brewing vinegar and the like, contains almost no alcohol, and is a different thing altogether in both method and taste.
How does hon-mirin change my cooking?
It brings out the gloss and shine on simmered dishes, and adds a refined sweetness with depth to it, coming from several kinds of sugar. The alcohol keeps ingredients from falling apart in the pot and helps flavor soak in. The finish on teriyaki and simmered fish visibly changes.
How should I choose a hon-mirin?
Read the ingredient list and choose one that lists only glutinous rice, rice koji and shochu (or brewing alcohol). If sugars or brewed seasonings are in there, it is not a full hon-mirin. "Sanshu Mikawa Mirin" from Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, is the standard-bearer for mirin brewed from pure glutinous rice.
