Start with these 36 seasonings from Kochi in total
In Kuroshio Town, seawater is crystallized using nothing but sun and wind. Skipping the fire takes time, but the salt comes out without hard edges. This is a place where people eat seared bonito with salt rather than sauce.
Head inland from the coast and you reach Umaji Village. A small forestry village became known for what it does with yuzu. Press the fruit and the peel and seeds still get used. That resourcefulness turned into the village's industry.
- Salt crystallized by sun and wind, with no fire
- Umaji Village, where using every part of the yuzu became an industry
Salt crystallized by the sun, and yuzu from the hills
What decides the taste of Kochi is the hard southern sunlight and the citrus in the hills. Tosa Bay gets long hours of sun, which makes it possible to crystallize seawater without fire at all. Because the salt is grown slowly, without driving off the minerals, a faint sweetness stays behind the saltiness.
On the mountain side, yuzu grows. It suits processing that brings out the aroma of the peel: pressed into ponzu, or used peel and all in yuzu kosho. It is a citrus you can put to different uses. The shoyu here is not as strong as Kyushu's, but compared with Kanto shoyu it is said to be built the western way, with the sweetness further forward. Do you eat katsuo with salt, or with ponzu? The fish, the citrus and the salt of this place draw the outline of how Kochi tastes.
Where sun-dried salt and ponzu began
Salt-making in Kochi was cut off for a long time under the national salt monopoly. After the monopoly law was abolished in 1997 and production was opened up, a fully sun-dried method took root in Kuroshio Town: seawater is laid in crystallizing boxes inside a greenhouse and left to the sun and wind for several months. Amami, the salt from Tosa no Amamiya, is said to have come out of that opening.
On the ponzu side, the Umajimura Agricultural Cooperative released Ponzu Shoyu Yuzu no Mura in 1986, and it spread across the country after winning the grand prize at Seibu Department Store's Japan's 101 Villages exhibition in 1988. It is known as a case of a mountain village of roughly 800 people rebuilding its livelihood on processed yuzu.
Local dishes and their seasonings
- Katsuo no Tataki (カツオのたたき)
- The dish Kochi is known for. Bonito seared over a straw flame, cut thick. Whether to eat it with salt or with ponzu is argued over inside households too. With salt it is Tosa sun-dried salt, with ponzu it is yuzu juice; that is how this place pairs it.
- Sawachi Ryori (皿鉢料理)
- A banquet style where sashimi, sushi, simmered dishes and fried dishes are all arranged together on a large painted platter. Shoyu or ponzu is set beside each dish to match it, so the way seasonings are chosen is laid out right there on the plate.
- Inaka Zushi (田舎寿司)
- In mountain areas where sea fish was hard to get, myoga, konnyaku, shiitake and other mountain ingredients were made into sushi instead. Mixing yuzu juice into the vinegar to lift the aroma is said to be the local way.
Makers in Kochi
- Tosa no Amamiya (Soltyve)
In Kuroshio Town, Kochi, they make Amami, a fully sun-dried salt made without fire. Seawater is laid in crystallizing boxes inside a greenhouse and crystallized over several months by sun and wind alone. A faint sweetness stays behind the saltiness. - Umajimura Nogyo Kyodo Kumiai (馬路村農業協同組合)
In Umaji Village, in the hills of Kochi, they process yuzu. Ponzu Shoyu Yuzu no Mura, released in 1986, is known for combining the village's yuzu juice with katsuo dashi, and it won the grand prize at Seibu Department Store's Japan's 101 Villages exhibition in 1988.
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