Mikura Red Vinegar Akane

If you are cooking Japanese food at home, you know that unlike Western vinegar that comes from fruit, regular Japanese vinegar is white or yellow-white because it comes from rice. If you visit sushi restaurants in Tokyo, though, you will find that many of them use a different type of vinegar: akazu, or red vinegar, that is indeed reddish/brownish and has more umami and less acidity. The reason for this is that instead of rice, this vinegar comes from sake lees. If you haven't tried it yet, the Mikura Red Vinegar Akane is a great place to start!

Coming from Mie Prefecture and made using lees from local sake breweries that have been aged for three years, the Mikura Red Vinegar Akane is prepared for 70 days in wooden barrels with different lees-to-alcohol ratios: more lees are used so the flavor becomes richer, doubling the amino acids (and therefore the umami) of regular rice. So get your 70 ml (2.4 fl oz) or 300 ml (10.1 fl oz) bottle, and see what it does for your sushi – or any other dish!

Specs and Features:

• Sizes: small, medium
• Volume (small): 70 ml (2.4 fl oz)
• Volume (medium): 300 ml (10.1 fl oz)
• Acidity: 4.4%
• Energy (100 ml / 0.8 fl oz): 17 kcal
• Protein (100 ml / 0.8 fl oz): 0.3 g
• Fat (100 ml / 0.8 fl oz): 0.1 g
• Carbohydrates (100 ml / 0.8 fl oz): 5.1 g
• Salt equivalent (100 ml / 0.8 fl oz): 0.01 g