Ponzu Sauce (Japanese Citrus Dipping Sauce)

Ponzu is a classic Japanese citrus condiment that’s great for dipping all manner of noodles, salads, dumplings, grilled meats, and cold sliced fish into. 

But while the “what is ponzu?” is easy to answer, the question,, “where did ponzu sauce come from?” is more muddled. To answer that we’ll need to go back nearly four centuries to Japan’s Edo Period, when the country spent nearly 200 years in isolation.  

During this era, Japan’s only contact with the rest of the world was through the Dutch, who maintained a settlement at the Port of Nagasaki from 1641 to the mid 1800s. Some lasting proof of this cultural and economic exchange can be found in the dozens of words left behind by the settlers that were absorbed into the local language; for example, although now obsolete in the Netherlands, “pon” was once a *Dutch word used to describe a type of punch. When attached to the word “su”—Japanese for vinegar—“pon-su” initially described a citrus-y cocktail introduced by the Dutch that made its way from Nagasaki to Osaka via traveling merchants. According to Nikkei, the eventual addition of soy sauce to this citrus-y concoction created a popular condiment in an area already known for seasoning its fish with citrus. Fast forward many years to the mid-20th century, and a modern version of the sauce was bottled industrially and eventually sold worldwide. 

*Because I know you’re curious, other linguistic contributions from the Netherlands to Japan include birru (bier/beer), kokku (kok/cook), shiroppu (siroop/syrup), kopu (kop/cup), and kōhii (koffie/coffee).

Interestingly, in 1960 the condiment company Mizkan began selling a product called ‘Ponzu,’ a lime-colored combination of citrus juice and vinegar that seems much closer to early Dutch/Japanese “pon-su” than ‘Aji Ponzu,’ Mizkan’s ‘seasoned’ ponzu with soy that was released four years later. Confused yet? Great, because people in Japan are, too.  

Mercifully, there’s an easy takeaway: Ponzu sauce is delectable, and once you’ve sourced the six ingredients below, it’s easy as heck to make on your own.