Japanese Spices and Seasonings: Wasabi, Sansho, Shichimi, Shiso, Karashi, Yuzu and More

This page covers the seasonings most associated with Japanese food: wasabi and karashi for pungency, sansho and shichimi togarashi for heat and aroma, shiso, sesame, negi, umeboshi and yuzu. For each, it gives what the sources say and links to our full profiles where one exists.

At a glance

Wasabi

Wasabi is the rhizome, not the root, of Eutrema japonicum, a plant of the mustard family (Brassicaceae) native from southern Korea and southern Sakhalin to Japan.¹² Its heat comes mostly from allyl isothiocyanate, the compound that also gives horseradish its flavor;¹⁸ one study found it made up 86 to 94% of the isothiocyanates in wasabi.¹⁹ The compounds form when the cells are broken, which is why wasabi is grated just before serving, traditionally on a sharkskin or wooden grater.¹⁸ Japan’s embassy in Singapore says wasabi is paired mainly with sushi and sashimi.³

Real wasabi is rare outside Japan. Britannica notes that the wasabi paste of Western restaurants is commonly made from horseradish,² and the embassy describes cheaper mixtures of horseradish, mustard and food coloring.³ Chowhound, citing the Washington Post, puts the share of fake wasabi sold in North America at about 99%.²⁰ Shizuoka Prefecture had Japan’s highest production of water-grown wasabi rhizomes in 2022.²¹ See wasabi, fresh wasabi vs. wasabi paste, wasabi vs. horseradish and too much wasabi.

Karashi

Karashi is Japanese hot mustard. Just One Cookbook describes it as a mixture of crushed Brassica juncea mustard seeds and horseradish, spicier and more potent than mild yellow mustard.⁴ Kikkoman’s glossary describes it as powdered Japanese mustard seed mixed into water or kneaded into a paste, notes that it is hotter than Western mustard, and says it is mainly sold in tubes in Japan.⁵ It comes as a powder or a ready-made paste.⁴ Uses named in the two sources include oden, natto, gyoza and tonkatsu.⁵⁴ Despite the occasional English label “pickled mustard,” neither source describes karashi as pickled. See mustard powder, brown mustard seeds and horseradish.

Sansho

Sansho is the dried fruit of Zanthoxylum piperitum, a shrub or tree in the rue and citrus family whose native range runs from China to southern Korea and Japan.⁶⁷ It is a close relative of Sichuan pepper, which comes from several related Zanthoxylum species.²² Katzer describes a fresh lime fragrance with a pungency that slowly produces a numbing, almost anesthetic feeling on the tongue.²² The young leaves, kinome, are used fresh as a flavoring and garnish.²² Ground sansho is the classic optional topping for unagi don, grilled eel over rice.⁸

Wakayama Prefecture is Japan’s main growing area, with 308 of the country’s 462 tonnes (66.7%) in the 2023 crop.²³ See sansho pepper, sansho substitutes and Szechuan pepper.

Shichimi togarashi

Shichimi togarashi, “seven-flavor chile,” is traced to Karashiya Tokuemon at Yagenbori in Edo, in 1625.²⁴ Chile, sansho and sesame are the standard core; the rest varies by maker.²⁴ Yagenbori and Kyoto’s Shichimiya Honpo both include sansho and sesame in their lists.⁹²⁵ Just One Cookbook names ramen, udon, soba, gyudon, tonjiru and yakitori among its uses.¹⁰ See shichimi togarashi, nanami togarashi and shichimi substitutes.

Shiso

Shiso is Perilla frutescens, a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae).¹¹ Its leaves may be green or red to purple, and in Japan the red-leaved cultivars are preferred for pickling, for their color.¹² Perillaldehyde is a major component of its essential oil.²⁶ Katzer notes that the leaves garnish sashimi and can be battered and deep-fried, and that red perilla goes into umeboshi.¹² A widely repeated claim that Japan has used shiso for 300 years could not be traced. See shiso and shiso substitutes.

Sesame, black and white

Katzer calls toasted sesame a common spice in East Asia, often sprinkled over Japanese and Korean dishes.¹³ Mixed with about 10% salt it becomes gomashio, usually sprinkled over rice dishes;¹³ JustBento calls gomashio the most basic furikake.²⁷ Black seeds owe their color to a melanin-like pigment in the seed coat.²⁸ Black sesame also turns up in desserts such as ice cream.²⁹ Sesame is often called a superfood; no regulator or systematic review supports that label. See black sesame seeds, black vs. white sesame, gomasio and furikake.

Furikake itself, literally “sprinkle,” is a rice seasoning; Just One Cookbook’s version combines bonito flakes, toasted sesame, nori, sugar and salt.³⁰ See gomasio vs. furikake.

Negi

Negi is the Welsh or Japanese bunching onion, Allium fistulosum, known only in cultivation and probably from northwestern China.¹⁴ PROSEA says that in Japan it is second in importance only to the common onion, and that East Asian forms are grown for their thick, blanched pseudostems, eaten as a pot herb, while in Southeast Asia the plant is grown mainly for its green leaves.¹⁴ Its aroma is not very strong and comes from volatile allyl sulphides.¹⁴ The common description of white parts cooked and green parts used as a garnish, and of regional preferences within Japan, could not be traced. See chives vs. green onions and garlic chives.

Umeboshi

Umeboshi are the salted, pickled fruit of the ume tree (Prunus mume); although called plums in English, the fruit is closer to the apricot.¹⁵ Nippon.com describes them as sweet, sour and salty, eaten with rice or used to accent other dishes, and notes a version made with purple shiso for color and flavor.¹⁵ Wakayama Prefecture accounts for 60% of Japan’s production.¹⁵ The liquid left from making umeboshi is used to color pickled ginger.¹² Umeboshi is the whole fruit; the paste (bainiku) is a separate product, not covered by the sources here.

Yuzu

Yuzu (Citrus × junos) is an accepted species in the rue family.¹⁶ Britannica says it may have originated as a hybrid of the sour mandarin and the Ichang papeda, probably in China, but is now most associated with Japan.¹⁷ The fruit has a bumpy golden-yellow skin and seldom grows much larger than a tennis ball; it is too bitter to eat alone.¹⁷ Its fragrant peel is added at the last minute to soups, salads and simmered dishes, and its juice is one option for the dipping sauce ponzu.¹⁷

Related pages

• Japanese curry powder
• Korean spices
• Wasabi powder vs. paste
• The master list of herbs and spices