Your favorite Japanese food products

[giantbee]

I think that most of the pine nuts available in Japan are imports from China, as I confirmed from several sites like these (all in Japanese only):

http://www.oishi-mise.com/matunomi.htm

https://s112.secure.ne.jp/~s112059/shop/ind...?goods=matunomi

http://www.yamyamhompo.com/kinomi-p/matsu.htm

All the pine nuts shown in the links are imports from China.

What do you think?

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I recall the pine nuts in the package being much shorter than the ones in the pictures (which look like the ones I buy here). On the other hand, maybe they were just regular pine nuts cut in half--will have to check next time . . . .

[torakris]

This is one of my new favorites

goma tonkatsu sauce

tonkatsu sauce with sesame seeds in it, I use it on anything that had been panko'd and deep fried.

[Kiem Hwa]

This is one of my new favorites

goma tonkatsu sauce

tonkatsu sauce with sesame seeds in it, I use it on anything that had been panko'd and deep fried.

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Yum...

this reminds me of a tonkatsu restaurant (chain) I went to in Kyoto, where we were given suribachi to grind up some sesame seeds, then added our tonkatsu sauce to it.... I bought a suribachi when I got home just to be able to do this myself

[torakris]

I love kimchi but am often disappointed with Japanese versions....

I have tried almost every one I have run across and have found very few I go back for a second time, that has changed!

The other day I picked up Gyukaku's kimchi (Gyukaku is a very famous yakiniku chain in Japan), I have avoided this one for a while because it was a "restaurant" brand and I guess I just assumed it wouldn't be very good...

I was way off, this is the best kimchi I have gotten from a supermarket, most Japanese brands have very little heat but this one was perfect and it had this sweetness that counteracted the spiciness perfectly. I am definitely going back for more!!

this is for sale in most supermarkets in my area. I am not sure about the rest of the country, I have never seen it for sale at the restaurants.

[helenjp]

Well, that was interesting! We tried the Gyukaku kimchi too (in fact, I was forced to buy that one, because everything else had been taken off the shelf ). DH still prefers his "direct import" Kankoku-kimchi in the 400g jar...just enough to get a guy through the weekend! (No details on the label, and can't find a photo online - the type with the girl in Korean dress on the lid!).

However, Gyukaku must definitely be one of the better Japanese brands.

[torakris]

The Japanese aren't big users of tomato paste so for years I have been buying tubes of Amore double concentrate on trips to the US. Two months ago I discovered a wonderful tomato paste put out by the big tomato product company here, Kagome. The paste comes in 1 tablespoon (well 18g) packs, 6 or so packs to a box at about 120 yen (US$1). Cheaper than the tube, more expensive than the can but there is no waste and it is incredibly easy to use. The packs look like this:

[_john]

I like those tomato paste packets too. very handy.

tip for making nori shreds: if you have a pasta machine you can make mountains of shreds very quickly.

I really love one particular brand or kurozato (brown sugar). it says UENO kurozato on the package. It seems to be sold everywhere in kansai, I uusally eat it with oatmeal.

[torakris]

A new product from S&B

Yuzu-wasabi!

This stuff is great! The yuzu flavor and smell is about as "real" as you can get and the wasabi is tamed down a bit so you can use quite a bit of this stuff with out the nose pinching heat.

I used it with this Pork and Cucumber Wasabi Salad and don't think I will ever go back to just regular wasabi again.