The highest yield in Japan!
Let's eat all the "Sudachi" in Kamiyama!

Autumn is the season for appetites. It's the season when we look forward to food more than usual. Kamiyama Town in Tokushima Prefecture, where our satellite office is located, is also in the midst of the fruitful autumn. Kamiyama is surrounded by mountains and is blessed with many natural blessings. The most famous product among them is the "sudachi" citrus, which has the highest harvest in Japan! We often receive a share of sudachi citrus, and it has become a familiar sight at Monosus.

At first, the members were confused when they received a mountain of sudachi and wondered, "How can I use it all up?", but as time passed, they started to walk the path to becoming "sudachi experts". (Some people now order them by the box.) So, this time, we would like to introduce some recommended ways to use sudachi, as recommended by Monosus members.

Tokushima's specialty "Sudachi" and Oita's specialty "Kabosu"

The left is Sudachi, the right is Kabosu

First, let me give you a brief introduction to sudachi.
Sudachi is often mistaken for kabosu, as they are both green citrus fruits, but kabosu is a specialty of Oita Prefecture and is the size of a tennis ball. It has a thicker skin than sudachi, larger seeds, and yellowish flesh. Sudachi is about the size of a golf ball and is a citrus fruit grown almost exclusively in Tokushima Prefecture. The skin is rather thin, and the flesh is yellowish-green in color. Squeeze a little of sudachi on any dish, whether it's grilled, fried, cold tofu, or sushi, to add a refreshing flavor.

White flowers of sudachi bloom in May, and those grown outdoors are shipped from August to October, playing an important supporting role in the fruitful autumn season. In winter, refrigerated sudachi are sold and used in hotpot dishes. As they begin to ripen, the skin also turns yellow.

Sudachi has a mild sourness and a fresh, yet somewhat rounded, aroma. The peel also has a very nice aroma, and can be grated or thinly sliced and chopped for use in cooking and baking.

By the way, when we asked a Monosus staff member who is from Kabosu Prefecture (Oita Prefecture), he told us that kabosu is used on all kinds of dishes, including the famous Toriten chicken, grilled dishes, fried dishes, stir-fried dishes, and soups.

Although they look and have almost the same purpose, each has its own distinctive scent, which is hard to convey in words... We encourage you to try each scent for yourself!

Now, let me introduce you to how to use sudachi.

1. Pour on fish

This is a classic. When saury season comes around, sudachi and saury are sometimes sold together. I think many people are familiar with the combination of fatty, freshly grilled saury and the refreshing scent of a squeeze of sudachi. I recommend squeezing it over sashimi instead of grilled fish. It can also be used with boiled fish, such as mackerel simmered in miso. Surprisingly, it goes perfectly with miso!

2. Use as a substitute for vinegar

This is also a classic, but if you use sudachi juice instead of vinegar, you can enjoy a different, fresher taste. If you are using it in vinegared dishes, it is also good to slice it into rings or use the skin as well. Apparently, the people of Kamiyama use sudachi instead of vinegar when making vinegared rice for sushi. (They squeeze out a lot of sudachi, freeze it in small portions, and use it all year round...I envy them!)

3. Add to soups and noodles (ramen and miso soup)

Now for a change of pace. It goes well with soups and noodles. You can add it to your everyday miso soup, ramen (miso ramen, salt ramen, tantanmen, hot and sour soup, surprisingly any kind of noodles will do), or pour it over yakisoba to double the flavor. It also goes well with curry (especially green curry). Oh yeah, in the summer, it's great to add sudachi to somen noodle soup.

4. Add to side dishes

I've said it in a general way, but it actually goes well with any side dish. I especially recommend it with rich Chinese side dishes. The refreshing taste of sudachi deepens the flavor of dishes such as mapo tofu and sweet and sour pork. It also goes well with meat dishes such as fried chicken and grilled pork belly.

5. Serve over hot rice

"Sudachi butter rice" is made by topping freshly cooked hot rice with sliced sudachi and butter, and drizzling it with soy sauce. The rice is eaten while squeezing out the juice from the sudachi. The rich flavor of the butter and the refreshing acidity of the sudachi blend well together on top of the hot rice, making it easy to eat bowl after bowl.
You can also mix rice with olive oil, sudachi juice, salt, pepper, and chopped mint leaves to transform it into a refreshing dish that goes well with Western dishes.

6. Add to drinks

Sudachi goes well with fruit juices, as well as carbonated drinks such as cola and ginger ale. We also recommend squeezing it into carbonated water such as Perrier. For those who like alcohol, beer or sake are good choices. It would also be good to add it to plum wine or cocktails. If you're feeling like you're about to catch a cold, try mixing sudachi juice with hot water and honey to get through it with vitamins and a warming effect on your body!

We also spoke to Kamaya's head chef, Hosoi-san.

Here's a little professional opinion. We asked Hosoi, head chef of Kamaya, a restaurant run by the Food Hub Project in Kamiyama Town. Hosoi is surrounded by sudachi every day in Kamiyama. Of the many ways to eat sudachi, we asked him about his five favorites.

Hosoi's recommended way to eat it

• Squeeze sudachi into beer
• Squeeze on mushroom pasta
• Focus on grilled fish (saikyo-yaki)
• Squeeze salt and sudachi on grilled pork
• Sudachi butter (Mix softened butter with sudachi juice and grated rind. Great for pancakes)

As expected, there is a wide range of options! They all look delicious. (I had never thought of Sudachi butter... I want to eat the best pancakes!) It seems that the combination of a rich, flavorful pancake with the refreshing taste of Sudachi makes it even more delicious.

I tried squeezing some sudachi citrus juice over mushroom pasta. Even if it wasn't matsutake, sudachi goes perfectly with mushrooms. I'm sure I'll make this again and again...

We also asked the head chef at the Freshwater Research Lab: It's delicious to look at and taste!
Sudachi Rare Cheesecake

Finally, here's a recipe for a dessert using sudachi.
This is a delicious dessert, Sudachi Rare Cheesecake, made by the chef of Fresh Water Laboratory , who regularly helps Monosus.

material

• Philadelphia cream cheese 200g
• 200cc fresh cream
• 200g plain yogurt
• 80g sugar
• Kamiyama Sudachi 11 pieces
• Powdered gelatin 8g
• 50cc water
• 26 biscuits
• 30g butter

How to make it

1. Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature
2. Finely chop the crackers and butter in a food processor and press into the bottom of the mold with an okonomiyaki spatula. (If you don't have a food processor, put the crackers in a thick plastic bag and pound them.)
3. Put cream cheese, fresh cream, sugar, yogurt, and the juice of 10 sudachi in a food processor and process until smooth. (If you don't have a food processor, mix thoroughly with a whisk.)
4. Sprinkle gelatin into water and heat in the microwave at 500W for about 50 seconds to dissolve, then transfer to a food processor and blend well, pour into a mold, and chill in the refrigerator for about 3 hours until it hardens.
5. This cheesecake has a low gelatin content, so it is very rare. Be careful when cutting it.
6. Garnish with sliced sudachi and it's done!
   

Sudachi is a versatile fruit!

When you look at it like this, you'll wonder if there's any dish that doesn't go well with sudachi! It's such a versatile fruit. In Kamiyama Town, when the season comes, you can see sudachi trees laden with fruit everywhere, and at roadside stations you can buy 500g or 1kg bags at bargain prices.

Before I started working with Kamiyama, I only thought of sudachi as a side dish for pacific saury, but it not only adds a refreshing aroma and flavor to a variety of dishes, sweets, and drinks, but also has a high citric acid content, so it helps relieve fatigue, killing two birds with one stone. It's truly a versatile ingredient.
Sudachi is a citrus fruit that has a different appeal from lemons, yuzu, and kabosu. Please try using it in your daily cooking!

Bonus: Highly recommended "Sudachi squeezer"!

We have introduced various ways to use sudachi, but the basic way to use it is to squeeze the juice out.
So I would like to recommend a "Sudachi squeezer"! With this, you can easily squeeze sudachi into any dish. Also, if you slice sudachi horizontally as shown in the picture, you can squeeze out the juice!