Japanese vinegar plays a discreet but essential role in cooking: it brings freshness, balances flavours and enhances ingredients without overpowering them.
Rice and cereal vinegars are the most versatile. Their acidity is generally rounder than that of wine vinegar, making them suitable for dressings, marinades, vegetables, seaweed salads and tsukemono preparations.
For seasoning sushi rice, sushi vinegars are generally already blended with sugar and salt. They are mixed into the rice while it is still hot to produce the mild, tangy flavour characteristic of sushi rice.
Umesu deserves a category of its own. Despite its common name of “plum vinegar”, it is actually the salty, tangy liquid collected during the preparation of umeboshi plums, sometimes combined with red shiso. Saltier than a conventional vinegar, it is used in small amounts in a sauce, dressing or marinade, or with vegetables.
The right choice therefore mainly depends on the intended use: an unseasoned vinegar for greater freedom in cooking, a ready-to-use preparation for sushi rice, or umesu for a more distinctive flavour.
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