What is Yuzu?
Yuzu is a highly aromatic citrus fruit originating in East Asia, prized for its distinctive fragrance and bright, complex flavour. Often described as a combination of lemon, mandarin and grapefruit, yuzu has a refreshing tartness with highly fragrant floral notes.
Rather than being eaten like an orange, yuzu is mainly valued for its juice and intensely aromatic peel. It is widely used in Japanese cuisine to add fresh citrus flavour to sauces, dressings, marinades, desserts, drinks and seasonings. Yuzu trees have flourished in Japan from around 1200 - 1300 years ago and the fruit has been used as a seasoning for their local cuisine since.
The main feature of yuzu fruit is its distinctive and refreshing aroma. A small amount of yuzu can add a wonderfully fragrant citrus lift to both sweet and savoury dishes, making it a favourite ingredient among chefs and adventurous home cooks.
Fresh versus Dried Yuzu
If you happen to be in the right season - approximately autumn to early winter - and also lucky enough to find a supply of fresh yuzu fruit - then for many dishes fresh would win as a preference, especially if you are wanting to use the juice.
However since there isn't a large supply of yuzu fruit even in season, fortunately for most people a high quality dried yuzu still provides its distinctive and refreshing aroma and flavour enhancing taste. The dried option also lasts well in your pantry, so you can use just as much as you need for any particular dish and save the rest for another day. A good quality dried product can have a shelf life of many months.
Forest Gourmet dried Yuzu comes from New Zealand grown fruit, which are picked at a deliberate level of ripeness, before being thinly sliced and air dried. The dried slices are then crushed to provide our dried Yuzu flakes. The whole fruit is used so you get a great mixture of the peel and juicy flesh.
Able to be used all year round, and for all types of meals recipes. The flakes are also useful in baking as the flakes remain intact and provide little bursts of flavour as you eat them.
You can see the Forest Gourmet range of dried Yuzu and yuzu seasoning mixes here.