Four fresh yuzu - what to do with them?

[aprilmei]

I have four fresh yuzu and am looking for suggestions on what to do with them. I'd prefer sweet dishes but am open to all ideas. This fruit is primarily rind/zest with very little juice, so four isn't enough to make a sorbet.

TIA

[SeanDirty]

I have four fresh yuzu and am looking for suggestions on what to do with them. I'd prefer sweet dishes but am open to all ideas. This fruit is primarily rind/zest with very little juice, so four isn't enough to make a sorbet.

TIA

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Ya know, when i used to work in a restaurant i'd make smoothies with exotic limes like yuzu and calamanci... the unique flavor of the limes would add a very nice twist to a drink we all know and love.

Also you might think of putting into a cheesecake... even 1 yuzu should add enough flavor to a cheesecake to taste it, while not making it overpowering.

There is also a Japanese candy called Wagashi that ive seen use yuzu. Where the innards was carved out, the fruit slightly poached and candied, and the mixture added back into the hallow fruit...

[alanamoana]

make a yuzu curd using the zest and some lemon juice to balance the amount of juice

[Jamon.Iberico]

Not exactly dessert, I know, but Yuzu Mojitos are divine.

[Paola]

How about some yuzu madeleine with the zest and a delicious "yuzuade" with the juice?

Speaking of yuzu, I have been on the hunt for some yuzu powder (freeze-dried). Does anyone have any idea of where I can get some? I have been looking for a good quality supplier in Japan that can export but have not succeeded, largely due to my lack of Japanese language skills I think. Any tips would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[aprilmei]

Thanks for these ideas. I ended up salting two of them, as for Moroccan preserved lemons (just quartered them and stuck them in with some Meyer lemons I was preserving). The other two I'm going to put in a jar with some sugar then will top up the jar with vodka.

I love the idea of yuzu madeleines.

[tomdarch]

So, exactly a year later, I've got a few pounds of yuzu. The nice folks at ripetoyou.com will have them over the next month or two (they expect to have them available through the end of January) They weren't cheap when you factor in shipping, but, hey, I've been jonsing for yuzu for quite a while. If nothing else, they're making my kitchen smell great sitting on the counter.

So far, I've made yuzu curd and put it in a tart crust - very nice! (Without much juice, the curd lacked acidity, so I mixed in a little citric acid. By a little I mean way less than a 1/8 teaspoon - it's strong stuff.)

I'm sure that I'm going to freeze a few of them - I figure that freezing shouldn't impair my ability to get (a litle) juice and zest later.

I'm not a big fan of preserved lemons, but I'll probably try it with one or two. I'm definitely going to candy some peel - it should be a fantastic Christmas treat. My first exposure to yuzu was a yuzu creme brulee (as part of a trio with subtle lavender and something else I can't remember - maybe mango?) at Green Zebra in Chicago. I'm sure I'm going to give that a shot.

What else? What does yuzu pair with?

Edited November 19, 2009 by tomdarch (log)

[Blether]

I've got a few pounds of yuzu.

I've just got round to using the yuzu I picked up a few days ago with this specific aim in mind.

If you say your jonesing for yuzu - do I infer right, that you've had a lot of yuzu before ? If so, in what form ? I can recommend the cheesecake idea; yuzu makes great marmalade if you really have a lot - and of course marmalade is good for mixing into sponge cakes or ice creams or using as a sauce base through the year.

[tomdarch]

Thanks for the encouragement on marmalade. I was pretty keen on doing that, but then I got sidetracked on all the canning gizmos and trying to figure out what type of pectin to use, etc. I haven't made marmalade before, and I haven't done much jam canning, so one issue I'm not sure on is quantity of juice. I'm going to be working from a lemon or orange recipe, and yuzu will produce a lot less juice - I guess I'll just go with whatever I can get out of the fruit, but does anyone have any suggestions or warnings on this versus standard lemon/orange base recipes?

I've had a few different yuzu dishes, but the first and most memorable was a yuzu creme brulee. I've done orange (and cardamom!) creme brulee several times, but to adapt that to yuzu, I'll be looking for that special "brightness" to come through. That may involve some citric acid, but I'm thinking I may also try infusing the sugar for the crust with zest.

Also, thanks for the link to the "cheesecake". On one hand, I'm from Chicago, so I would never call that a "cheesecake" ("real" cheesecake has cream cheese and eggs (puff chest in mock affront and make tisking sounds!)). On the other hand, that looks delicious and easy, so I'm totally going to make it, but call it a different name. I'm guessing by the absence of sugar as an ingredient that you're using sweetened condensed milk. Also, you may want to try blind baking your crust to give more crispness and a nice hint of toasting flavors. Pre-baking may not work with digestive biscuits, but it's a nice touch with American graham cracker/butter crusts. Some recipes also add a little sugar to the graham cracker crust.

Actually, I'm going to make one to "test" and probably make another for the family for Thanksgiving dinner. (There will be a pumpkin pie, of course, and a Burbon/pecan pie, so a creamy/tart pie will complement and balance the others!)

By the way, how much does yuzu cost there in Tokyo?

[Blether]

The marmalade recipe I adapted uses a large volume of water, to which the juice (and peel, and bag of pith & seeds) is added - you should be able to adjust easily enough, I think - after all, the final setting temperature is only reached when you've boiled off whatever spare water you had. I'd be more specific, but I adapted it to natsumikan, not yuzu. One of the major ways that yuzu is sold here, is as a kind of thin marmalade that people dilute to have as a hot drink.

Cream + lemon juice = cream cheese, in my book Yes, the condensed milk is sweetened - which leaves a question for me - do you have unsweetened condensed milk in the US ? I've never come across such a thing (evaporated milk, yes).

As for blind baking, what I mean is I mixed a raw cookie (digestive biscuit) dough and pre-baked it. It's an interesting thought for a crumbed-biscuit base, if I could be bothered shelling out the bucks for Japan McVities and removing every individual piece of wrapping.

Early season (October / beginning November, in my local central-Tokyo supermarket, yuzu were the equivalent of two bucks each; now they're down to one.

[tomdarch]

Duh! Yep, I was thinking of evaporated milk as the non-sweetened version!

Hmmm.. So at a buck a piece, that's in the range of US$5-6 per pound. That's on the same order of magnitude as a decent price here (I paid US$8 per pound, plus shipping)