Namikura Kyoto-Style White Miso
Savory, sweet and flavor-dense, white miso is an absolutely essential pantry item. Winey-sweet, buttery and deeply rich, this organic version from Japanese family producer Namikura Miso Co. is more complex and less salty than other brands, which means it can be used more freely with soy sauce without dishes tasting overly seasoned.
BLiS Gourmet Barrel Aged Fish Sauce
This bourbon barrel-aged fish sauce is mellowed by seven months of sitting in oak, so the earthy, meaty funk that one expects from any fermented fish product is beautifully balanced by a complementary sweetness. BLiS's product is also rounded out with soft notes imparted by the seven-month aging process: warming spices, vanilla, and fruit woods, as well as a subtle smoky depth.
Megachef Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce
Megachef Oyster Sauce is made with premium oysters that are harvested off the Gulf of Thailand and smoked over hardwood for a deeper flavor and smoky, grilled aroma. We love its complex yet clean flavor: robust and savory, slightly briny and almost sweet. Although it's prepared by cooking down oysters until their juices caramelize, this sauce does not taste like oysters; rather, it has a molasses-like richness and sweet, savory and umami flavor that's slightly similar to soy sauce. Megachef's version has no added artificial flavors or colors—in contrast, even high-quality brands tend to augment their oyster sauce with ingredients like MSG and caramel coloring, resulting in an artificial taste.
While oyster sauce is mostly used as an ingredient for marinades, stir-fries or flavoring rice or noodle dishes, Megachef's Oyster Sauce is also delicious on its own as a condiment—the sauce's smoother consistency compared to other brands is perfect for dipping or drizzling over dishes.
Suehiro Double Brewed Soy Sauce
Since 1879, Suehiro has used the same traditional methods to make their small-batch soy sauces in Japan’s Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture. We were especially wowed by their Double-Brewed Soy Sauce, or Saishikomi, which is deeply layered in comparison to any run-of-the-mill grocery version. Unlike most on the market, this soy is brewed not once but twice, first delicately with soybeans, wheat, salt, water and koji. Then, the mixture is brewed again, this time without salt or water, yielding an earthy, rich and viscous soy sauce that stands apart. It’s salty, but less so than other brands, with funky, coffee-like notes that round out into a dark, almost burnt caramelly sweetness. Use it anywhere you would soy sauce, but we love it most served simply with dishes that have few ingredients, like hand rolls and sashimi.
Hanamaruki Foods Liquid Shio Koji
A traditional condiment made from fermented malted rice, shio koji is known in Japan for packing a punch of umami into everything from marinated meats to savory soups. All shio kojis aren’t created equal, though, for Hanamaruki Foods distills the powerful flavor properties of this essential Japanese ingredient into an easy-to-use liquid form—the only Liquid Shio Koji available on the market—to create the ultimate pantry secret weapon. We love the condiment’s clean, yet bold flavor: salty rounded out with a pronounced sweetness and burst of umami. It’s made by pressing shio koji in its original paste form and filtering until it yields the clear, golden-hued liquid. The product isn’t heat-treated, so its enzymes remain active and effective in rendering meat remarkably moist and juicy, balancing bitterness in veggies like eggplant and adding amino acids for a full-flavored finish to any dish to truly change the way you cook. Use as a marinade for meats and fish, drizzle into salad dressings and sauces to balance savory flavors, or incorporate into baked goods to add a layer of tantalizing complexity.
Namikura Red Miso
Red Miso is stronger, saltier and more assertively flavored than yellow or white miso due to its six-month aging process and has a higher proportion of soybeans for a richer taste. This particularly interesting version has sweet flavors reminiscent of sherry and milk chocolate that are perfect for pairing with red meat and other robust dishes.
Ito Shoten Tamari
Tamari, the liquid byproduct that results from pressing miso, is so much more than gluten-free soy sauce (a common misconception among American cooks). The distinct tamari from Ito Shoten—based in the Aichi Prefecture, a region of Japan known for deeply rich, uncommonly dark miso—is so complex it’s no wonder it has been likened to a wine. Aged in cedar barrels that are over 100 years old, Ito Shoten’s tamari develops a dark, almost inky color, as well as a wine-like depth and body. Its heady, malty aroma promises plenty of meaty savoriness, as well as caramel notes, deep umami and a lively salinity. This tamari is one to treasure: use it raw in small quantities to finish dishes where its flavor will shine, almost like a soy extract rather than a condiment. Its complexities get lost when it’s cooked into a sauce or dish.
Jiangsu HengShun 6-Year Zhenjiang Black Vinegar
Ubiquitous Chinese black vinegar is rich, tart and slightly sweet—with a fermented malty taste and woody character that distinguishes it from the light-colored and fruity rice vinegar. This one is crafted by one of the oldest and most well-known producers in the country, who ages the dark liquid for 6 years in traditional urns to achieve its complexity. It’s not too astringent, with a full-bodied character that yields nuanced notes of molasses and something like the brightness of a high-quality bar of dark chocolate, nothing like the other black vinegars we sampled that weren’t given time to age. A pantry staple in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine, black vinegar contributes a unique flavor to food that (despite what you might read online), can’t be replicated with other dark vinegars like fruity balsamic.
Marukin Koikuchi 40% Reduced Salt Soy Sauce
Most low-sodium soy sauces lack flavor or complexity, but this premium product from Marukin packs a ton of rich umami flavor with half the salt. Established in 1907, Marukin is one of only 1% of Japanese soy sauce producers that maintain traditional production methods from the past century. Their low-sodium sauce is made from the same ingredients as regular soy sauce and is fermented in cedar barrels over a hundred years old; the natural bacteria and yeast that live on the barrels and in the air slowly ferment the soybeans into this naturally sweet, malty and complex sauce. It's the perfect substitute for regular soy sauce for anyone who is looking to reduce their sodium intake without sacrificing flavor. Add this reduced sodium soy sauce to any number of dishes, marinades and sauces.
Nitto Jozo White Tamari
Note that while tamari is often used as a term for gluten-free soy sauce, Nitto Jozo’s White Tamari is actually all wheat-based. (In Japan, tamari simply refers to a liquid that is pressed out of another substance—in this case, wheat.) This sauce is malty-sweet and slightly tangy, a great choice for those who want the umami flavor of soy sauce with less saltiness.
MegaChef Kecap Manis
After years of searching for the right one, we finally found a version of this Indonesian staple condiment we are proud to sell. Kecap manis, or “sweet dark soy sauce,” is an Indonesian secret for depth, umami and complexity. Megachef’s version—the best one we’ve tried—is virtually impossible to find in the United States. Of the handful of brands sold here, most are packed with thickeners, additives and flavorings; apart from a nominal amount of starch for consistency, Megachef adds no preservatives, artificial coloring or MSG, and its flavor is significantly bolder and richer than the other versions we’ve tried. Soy sauce from non-GMO soybeans and high-quality palm sugar are simmered until the sauce becomes thick and glossy, with a deep dark color and consistency similar to hoisin. The resulting sauce isn’t as salty as soy or as sweet as hoisin, the two most comparable condiments—but it has a funky malty, umami soy flavor, almost akin to molasses. Use it for Indonesian or Asian cooking or anywhere you might like a funky, barbecue sauce-like glaze.
Sennari Vinegar Brewery Organic Rice Vinegar
Made from only two ingredients—organic rice and water from the mountains of Northern Hiroshima—this organic rice vinegar is a cut above standard supermarket varieties. Slightly sweeter, with a rounder flavor and more umami notes than most rice vinegars, its subtle acidity offers a much more balanced outcome, so no bitterness or harshness comes through. Sennari, a brewery established in Japan in 1927, uses a traditional static fermentation process to produce their vinegars. Koji, a natural fermentation culture, is combined with steamed organic rice and nearby mountain water featuring a soft PH of 7. The combination ferments and develops naturally over the course of six months, resulting in a rice vinegar with a more mild acidity and elevated taste. Conventional mass produced vinegar is usually made in just one week using an automatic fermentation method, the result of which we found lacking in taste.
Yuasa Ki-ippan Kuromame Shoyu
Made from premium black soybeans and aged in cedar barrels for over two years, this Ki-ippan Kuromame Shoyu is thick and rich in flavor—full of funk, earthiness and a bit of sweetness. Crafted by fifth-generation Japanese company Yuasa Soyu Sauce Co. in Yuasa—a traditional brewing city that’s like a living soy sauce museum—it has won the Grand Gold Medal at the Monde Selection for 10 consecutive years. The deep umami and sweet notes that make this shoyu stand out come from the premium black soybeans, sourced from Tanba in Hyogo Prefecture. Known also as “Kuromame,” they have a black skin and white interior, and contain a distinctive taste. Use this anywhere you would soy sauce, from dumplings to meat to noodles, or in marinades, dipping sauces and salad dressings.
Naogen Crystalized Shoyu
Made from freeze-dried soy sauce from Japan’s Naogen Brewery, this unique Crystallized Shoyu contains one-sixth the amount of sodium of table salt, while still adding a kick of salinity to anything. The flaky crystals melt on the tongue, leaving behind a lovely tasting shoyu: rich, not too salty and a little sweet and earthy, like chocolate. The shoyu is brewed from buttery Enrei soy beans, sea salt and Hakusan Mountain spring water; once freeze-dried into airy flakes, the aromatic crystals add a pleasant kick of saltiness to sushi, grilled meat, soups and stews, toast, tempura, eggs, pasta and vegetables. And because the flakes have a mild sweetness behind their savory flavor, they pair beautifully with dessert: Use a pinch to finish blondies, cookies and ice cream, or anywhere you would use a hit of flaky sea salt. The crystallized shoyu adds extra dimension beyond the salinity of plain salt.
Empress Pineapple Miso Hot Sauce
Made and bottled in Taiwan, this small-batch hot sauce features Taiwan-grown pineapples sourced from family farms and a hint of miso. Inspired by the flavor of tacos al pastor, savory miso, fruity chilies and bright, acidic pineapple combine to make a mild-to-moderate hot sauce. It’s excellent in a marinade, thanks to pineapple’s natural ability to tenderize; we love it in grilling and basting sauces. It’s also wonderful on pizza, thanks to its smooth and pourable consistency.
Yamashin Tosa Bonito Shoyu
Yamashin Tosa Shoyu, a unique dashi shoyu from Japan, offers a remarkable smoky-sweet flavor profile. A combination of deep, rich bonito (katasubushi) stock from Tosa, Kochi Prefecture—free of added sugars, yet naturally sweet—and soy sauce, the result is smoky, salty and umami-rich. A flavorful stand-in for regular soy sauce, it's ideal for enhancing fish, sushi, soup, eggs and more.
Enokida Jozo Yuzu Miso
Saucy and full of punchy yuzu flavor, Enokida Jouzo's Yuzu Miso is a lovely twist on a typical umami-packed miso. With a texture perfect for spreading or glazing, this slightly sweet miso is made from rice malt and yuzu, a tart citrus fruit grown in Japan. Add this citrusy flavor bomb on top of rice, mixed into noodles, on vegetables, fish, chicken, meat and more. Based in the Gunma Prefecture at the foot of Mt. Akagi in Maebashi City, a place known for its fermented foods, the company has been in business for over 100 years.
Enokida Jozo Chili Miso
Saucy and full of subtle—not overwhelming—chili flavor, Enokida Jouzo's Chili Miso is a peppery twist on a typical umami-packed miso. With a texture perfect for spreading or glazing, this slightly sweet miso is made from rice malt and Japanese green chili peppers. Add this zippy flavor bomb on top of rice, mixed into noodles, on vegetables, fish, chicken, meat and more. Based in the Gunma Prefecture at the foot of Mt. Akagi in Maebashi City, a city known for its fermented foods, the company has been in business for over 100 years.