Chiekovsky

Japanese Acoustic Unit in Australia, Perth

Sugar

rapadura

Sugar is often used for Japanese cooking to add sweetness.

Do you know Teriyaki???
It’s representative Japanese flavor of sugar-and-soy-sauce.

So, in Japanese cooking, sweetness is as important as the taste of soy sauce.

There is Mirin(also translated as sweet sake) in Japan, which is a kind of Sake that has sweet and rich aroma of rice mold.
It is used very often at authentic Japanese cooking for the purpose of adding mild sweetness and characteristic mellow flavor.

Sometimes you might be able to find mirin ? like seasonings which are imported from japan ? at a kind of Japanese food grocer.
It’s OK but it’s not the same as authentic mirin.

So I’ve been using just sugar since I came to WA when I want to give some sweetness to the taste.
Instead, I’m a bit careful about the kind of sugar.

I always use Rapadura sugar(also named Panela sugar) for Japanese cooking.

Rapadura sugar is made from the pure juice of the sugar cane(by using a press), and it keeps molasses and lots of vitamins and minerals as well.
So Rapadura sugar can give not only sweetness but also some complex mild flavors to the cooking.
I feel Rapadura sugar is fit for Japanese “sugar-and-soy-sauce”?taste.

In Perth, I always buy Rapadura sugar at KAKULAS BROTHERS(183 William St, Northbridge WA 6003)?because the shop sells it by weight and cheaper than common supermarket.

If ?you can’t find out Rapadura sugar, some another less-refined sugar is alternatives.
(Of course, even though somewhat less tasty, ?you can make my recipes ?by using white sugar instead of Rapadura.)