Nihon Chomiryo Tabi
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Oita miso is barley miso. Kyushu grows a lot of barley, and across much of the region it is barley rather than rice that goes into the koji. The result is sweet and toasty, with a shorter aging. Breweries have been clustered in Usuki since the Edo period.
Yuzu kosho is said to have been born in the hills of this prefecture, though accounts of its origin differ. Green yuzu peel, green chili and salt, nothing else. In an age without refrigeration, salt was how you held on to something this aromatic.
- Kyushu miso made with barley koji, sweet and toasty
- Yuzu kosho, green yuzu and green chili held by salt
Oita is barley miso country
Oita miso is barley miso. Barley koji gives it more aroma than rice miso and makes the sweetness easier to pick up. Kyushu as a whole is barley miso territory, and Oita is its center: makers in the prefecture are said to produce more barley miso than anywhere else in Japan.
The shoyu is sweet too, in line with the rest of Kyushu, and much of it is finished with sugar or other sweeteners. Set against all that sweetness, Oita also has yuzu kosho. Made from nothing but yuzu peel, green chili and salt, it is the condiment that closes a dish with aroma and heat in a region where most seasonings pull the other way.
Where yuzu kosho was born
One account places the origin of yuzu kosho in the Tsue district of Hita, Oita, another around Mount Hiko in Fukuoka, and several places across Kyushu claim it. There is no settling the question, but it is certain that Tsue in Hita grows a great deal of yuzu and that households there have been making it for a long time.
The kosho in the name comes from the fact that parts of Kyushu have historically called chili peppers kosho. There is no actual pepper in it. Made with green yuzu and green chili it comes out green; with yellow yuzu and red chili, red. In Usuki, a maker founded in 1861 still produces miso and shoyu, and Oita's seasonings can be told through three things: barley miso, sweet shoyu and yuzu kosho.
Local dishes and their seasonings
- Dango Jiru (だんご汁)
- Wheat dough kneaded and stretched flat, then simmered in a miso-based soup. Everyday food in Oita, built on the aroma of barley miso.
- Toriten (とり天)
- Oita's marinated, deep-fried chicken. It is normally eaten with ponzu and mustard paste, sometimes with yuzu kosho alongside.
Makers in Oita
- Fundokin ShoyuFounded in 1861
A maker in Usuki. Said to produce more barley miso than anyone in Japan, it also makes shoyu and yuzu kosho. - Kawadu ShokuhinFounded in 1963
A yuzu kosho maker in Maetsue, Hita. Working in yuzu-growing country, it makes a yuzu kosho with the texture left coarse.
Stories from this area
Nearby prefectures
