Fermented & preserved
Hon mirin
true mirin — the brewed rice sweet-sake seasoning
A seasoning classed as an alcoholic beverage, with roughly 12–14% alcohol, made by saccharifying and aging glutinous rice, rice koji, and distilled alcohol. It is distinct from 'mirin-style seasoning', an imitation made mainly with sugars, and lends dishes a refined sweetness and depth.
Lineage
What it's made of
A sweet seasoning classed as an alcoholic beverage, running roughly 13–14% alcohol. Unlike 'mirin-style seasoning', an imitation sweetened mainly with sugars, it carries both a deep sweetness from glutinous rice and the particular lift that alcohol brings to aroma. Used in simmered dishes, it adds a glossy sheen and takes the edge off fish or meat's stronger smells while lending a refined sweetness.
How it's made
Steamed glutinous rice is mixed with rice koji, then combined with distilled alcohol such as shochu. The alcohol slows the action of the enzymes, so saccharification proceeds gradually over months as the rice starch converts to sugar. Pressing and aging it afterward is said to turn it into a seasoning with real complexity, not just sweetness.
Why it took this shape
It's said to have started out as a sweet drink before coming into use as a cooking seasoning from the Edo period onward. Because the combination of glutinous rice, rice koji, and alcohol could be reproduced almost anywhere, distinct regional styles of mirin are thought to have taken root in different places, laying the groundwork for named regional versions such as Mikawa mirin.
Dishes in the same style
- Achara ZukeWhite melon, eggplant, and lotus root are pickled in a sweet vinegar spiked with red chili — the name is said to trace to the Portuguese 'achar', carried in through Hakata Bay's old trade, and an odd number of vegetables is used for Obon hospitality.
- AhodakiOld takuan pickle, once its flavor and aroma have faded, is desalted and simmered again in soy sauce, a pantry staple from the Hokusei area. Its name — playfully self-deprecating, roughly "doing a foolish thing" — nods to eating it well past its prime, a frugal way to waste nothing.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
- WasanbonA fine-grained sugar made from a cane variety called 'chikuto', repeatedly kneaded and refined by hand on a wooden tray (bon). Produced since the Edo period in eastern Shikoku, in both Tokushima and Kagawa, its refined sweetness is prized for making Japanese confectionery.
- KokutoA mineral-rich sugar made by boiling down cane juice and letting it set without refining. It has been made since the Edo period on Okinawa's outer islands and in the Amami archipelago, and is known for a depth of flavor that refined white sugar lacks.