Mirin

I once saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen in which they tested different brands of mirin, which is a sweet rice wine used in Chinese cooking. Even though I don't use it very often, I frowned when I saw Chris Kimball stick out his tongue in disgust at the kind I had in my cabinet. "This tastes like straight glucose syrup," he said.

So this week, when I knew I'd be making scallion pancakes with mirin dipping sauce, I decided to take a special trip to HMart* to seek out a better mirin. There were about 7 different kinds. It seemed at first that all were made with either glucose or corn syrup. Also, they all seemed to be contain quite a lot of sugars. (7 grams per tablespoon.) Finally, after a full ten minutes staring at labels written mostly in Asian languages, I found one made with sugar. Hurrah!



On the left you see the apparently dreadful, yet common, Kikkoman mirin at which Chris Kimball turned up his nose. On the right is (what I hope is) the good kind. I can't even tell you what language that is, much less read it. (I suspect it's Japanese.)

Compare the labels:






Kikkoman ingredients and nutrition facts (above) versus:






Jozo Mirin-- made with sugar and only 2g/T!

*HMart is an international grocery store. There are several around DC, though none in the city. GranMart is comparable.