Seasonings of Ibaraki

Why Ibaraki shoyu is so deep in savory flavor

The koikuchi (the standard dark shoyu) of Ibaraki has a crisp saltiness with savory depth standing behind it. Dipped with sashimi it sharpens the outline, and in simmered dishes or teriyaki a small amount lands the flavor exactly.

What supports that depth is kioke (wooden barrels). At Shibanuma Shoyu Jozo in Tsuchiura, breweries and kioke built in the Edo, Meiji and Taisho eras are all still in active use. Microbes have settled into the inside of the barrels over decades and centuries, and it is said that their work, as the moromi (the fermenting mash) repeats fermentation and aging, produces the distinctive savory depth and body. Kurosawa Shoyu in Hitachinaka likewise continues tennen jozo (naturally brewed, no temperature control) in cedar barrels, leaving the work to the brewery's resident microbes without changing its method.

When the base is kioke-brewed, the way the aroma extends once dashi is blended in also changes. Dashi shoyu tends to be seen as a seasoning for convenience, but in Ibaraki the thickness of the shoyu itself is the premise.

Tsuchiura, the forgotten brewing center

Talk about where shoyu comes from and the names Choshi and Noda come up. But in the Edo period, Tsuchiura was added to those two and the three were called the great brewing centers of the Kanto region. The water routes of Kasumigaura and the Tone River became the road to Edo, soybeans and wheat grew nearby, and there was water for brewing. Every condition was in place.

Shibanuma Shoyu Jozo is said to have been founded in 1688 by the first-generation Shibanuma Shozaemon. Their flagship, Shiho, takes its name from another name for Mt. Tsukuba as seen from the brewery. Of the shoyu houses that once flourished in Tsuchiura, this is said to be the only one still brewing. Kurosawa Shoyu in Hitachinaka is a brewery running since 1905.

That Tsuchiura's name is not widely known, despite being one of the three great brewing centers, comes down largely to the difference in how many breweries survived.

Local dishes and their seasonings

Soboro Natto (そぼろ納豆)

A preserved food of Mito and the central part of the prefecture, made by salting shredded dried daikon together with natto. In the Edo period, natto making grew as a way to use the early small-grain soybeans harvested before typhoon season, and this is said to have been created to make it keep longer. After salting, it is seasoned with shoyu or with natto sauce.

Anko Nabe and Dobu-jiru (あんこう鍋・どぶ汁)

The signature winter hotpot of the northern part of the prefecture. Dobu-jiru uses no water at all: only vegetables such as daikon, the monkfish liver, and miso. One account says the name comes from the liver melting out and clouding the broth. It is a preparation that needs no water, with miso taking on the fat of the monkfish.

Shimotsukare (しもつかれ)

A dish of the western part of the prefecture in which daikon and carrot are grated on a coarse oni-oroshi, then simmered with roasted soybeans and salmon heads in sake lees and dashi. It is a food culture shared with Tochigi, and its distinctive flavor divides opinion sharply.

Makers in Ibaraki

• Shibanuma Shoyu JozoFounded in 1688
  A shoyu brewery in Tsuchiura. In a town once named alongside Choshi and Noda as one of the three great brewing centers of the Kanto region, it is said to be the only brewery still operating. Kioke in use since the Edo period remain active, and the flagship Shiho takes its name from another name for Mt. Tsukuba as seen from the brewery.
• Kurosawa ShoyuFounded in 1905
  A shoyu brewery in Hitachinaka. They hold to tennen jozo in cedar barrels, continuing a method that leaves the work to the microbes settled in the brewery. The site includes a cafe and a fermentation class, and the brewery is active about showing people the work of brewing.