Hikari Shokunin no Yume Organic Sudachi Ponzu (光食品 職人の夢 有機すだちぽん酢)

The story behind it

Ponzu normally gets its tartness adjusted with brewed vinegar. This one contains none. The acidity stands on three citrus juices alone: sudachi, yuzu, and yuko, a citrus that barely survives outside Tokushima.

It is made by Hikari Shokuhin in Kamiita, Tokushima. Toshio Shimada started a sauce works in Komatsushima in 1946, and the company earned organic JAS certification in 2000. From 2007 it went into farming itself to secure raw material, and it still grows organically on land that had been abandoned.

The dashi is not bought in as an extract: the company draws it in house from domestic kombu and organic dried shiitake. The shoyu (soy sauce) is brewed from domestic organic soybeans and wheat and rested for over a year. No flavorings, preservatives, colorings, or chemical seasonings.

The label carries a subtitle: "the ponzu I always wanted to make." Nothing was subtracted to save effort, and the name says as much.