Here’s a recipe to make chilled Japanese-style pudding using the transparent soy sauce that’s become a popular souvenir from Japan.

With over 150 years in the business of selling quality food seasonings, Kumamoto-based Fundodai’s products could be said to be as timeless as you can get. That doesn’t stop the company, however, from rolling out creative new foodstuffs that occasionally defy common logic–such as the colorless, transparent soy sauce that it released in February 2019. Originally created as an alternative to regular soy sauce so that children at nursery schools wouldn’t stain their clothes while eating, the water-like condiment was confusing to our brains when we first tried it out for ourselves.

Fast forward to this year, and sales of Fundodai’s clear soy sauce are up 1.5 times in Japan and 2 times abroad compared to last year. In fact, it’s being exported to 25 countries and is now used even in Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe.

▼ There are four variations of the sauce (left to right): soy sauce for dashi [broth] use, truffle soy sauce, standard transparent soy sauce, and yuzu ponzu [a citrus-based sauce] soy sauce.

Its uniqueness as a product has made it a popular souvenir for visitors to Japan as well. Demachi Hisaya, Fundodai’s antenna shop in Tokyo’s famous Asakusa district, has shared that approximately 60-70 percent of its customers are foreigners. In an effort to serve all of its customers, Demachi Hisaya has attached NFC tags to many of its products so that information and sample recipe ideas can be instantly translated into various languages simply by holding a smartphone over the tag.

▼ The entrance to Demachi Hisaya

Fundodai also recently rolled out some summer recipe ideas on its website that make use of the clear soy sauce to project a “cool” sensation while eating. There are currently six recipes, all in Japanese, which may be downloaded here by anyone looking for some new ideas.

▼ (Clockwise, from top) Scallops in clear cubes, clear soy sauce-flavored potato chips, corn potage, tomato caprese, truffle-flavored carbonara, and Japanese-style pudding

Below, we’ve translated the relatively simple instructions to make the pudding for anyone who wants to indulge in something cooling to both the eyes and palate. The clear color might be a bit surprising at first to those used to typical yellow Japanese-style pudding with a drizzling of brown caramel sauce, but don’t let that stop you from trying this one out!

Clear soy sauce-based Japanese-style pudding

Makes 4 pudding cups / 130 milliliters (4.4 ounces) each

Pudding ingredients:
● Water – 340 milliliters (11.5 ounces)
● Vanilla extract – between 10-20 drops
● Granulated sugar – 50 grams (1.8 ounces)
● Agar – 11 grams

Clear soy sauce caramel sauce ingredients:
● Fundodai’s standard transparent soy sauce – 2 teaspoons
● Mizuame [a clear, thick liquid Japanese sweetener] – 3 tablespoons

Directions:
1. First, make the pudding base by mixing the granulated sugar and agar together.

2. Pour the water into a pot and turn on low heat. When it boils, add in the sugar mixture and several drops of vanilla extract and stir with a rubber spatula until everything is fully dissolved.

3. Place the pot in non-cold water to lower the temperature to 50-40° Celsius (122-104° Fahrenheit) and add about 5 drops of vanilla extract. Transfer the mixture into pudding molds and let them chill in the fridge for about one hour.

4. Next, make the caramel sauce. Combine the transparent soy sauce with the mizuame in a bowl and mix well.

5. Transfer the pudding from the molds into cups and drizzle the caramel sauce on top.

▼ The finished pudding and sauce–shockingly see-through!

The four kinds of Fundodai’s transparent soy sauce can be purchased on its online store or through Rakuten as well as in person at the Demachi Hisaya store. Each one costs about 500 yen (US$3.40), making them a unique and inexpensive souvenir for those who enjoy cooking.

If all of this reading about transparent food has you craving a splash of color, Tokyo’s also got you covered there–like at this place where you can sample all kinds of rainbow-colored treats.

Store information
Demachi Hisaya / 出町久屋
Address: Tokyo-to, Taito-ku, Nishi-Asakusa 2-25-9
東京都台東区西浅草 2-25-9
Open: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Closed: Wednesdays and Thursdays
Website

Reference: Fundodai
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times (1, 2)
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