New Starch!!
HON'KUZU, ultra-refined pure arrowroot starch

From Morino Yoshinokuzu Honpo Company

HON'KUZU (ultra-refined, pure arrowroot starch) is the highest grade starch used in the Japanese kitchen for savory and sweet dish preparations. Among all other starches HON'KUZU produces the clearest appearance and smoothest texture with stronger jellying power. While other starches may leave a starchy sensation in the mouth, HON'KUZU has the smooth, silky mouth-feel, and refined aftertaste.

Snow-white, silky HON'KUZU is made from the rather unattractive-looking root of the kuzu plant, which belongs to the pulse family. Its vine can grow up to 60 feet long. This is the same plant called kudzu in the US that was imported more than 100 years ago as an ornamental, and has proliferated wildly in the American south.

The brown root is dug during the cold wintertime when the nutrients and starch are concentrated in the root. After being carefully softened by repeated beating, over next three weeks the roots are repetitively processed through ten rounds of rinsing and soaking in pure spring water. This careful, lengthy procedure separates the fibrous bark and impurities from the pure snow-white starch.

The starch is then dried in natural ambient air for about 60 days. Seventy four pounds of fresh root is processed with great labor and care to produce a final 10 pounds of starch. HON'KUZU, though unassuming and unpretentious in its final appearance is a serious and refined artisan product with unsurpassed cooking properties.

While corn, potato and other food starches are used only as a thickener, pure HON'KUZU plays the role of a main ingredient in many preparations. One of the best examples is the Japanese dish called goma-dofu (sesame flavored kuzu-starch "tofu" - it is called "tofu" because its smooth and tender texture reminds one of the soft, smooth texture of high quality tofu). Carefully toasted and pasted sesame seeds are cooked with kelp stock and HON'KUZU.


The heat converts the mixture to a pleasant, tender, delightfully flavored tofu-like preparation. Cooled goma-dofu is cut into a serving-sized cubes and is often dressed with a light shoyu (soy sauce) flavored sauce and a dab of freshly grated wasabi for an extra kick. Replacing sesame seeds with pureed seasonal vegetables produces a unique vegetable "tofu" which is playful, colorful and delicious with a very pleasing texture.

Another popular traditional Japanese HON'KUZU dish is prepared from simple kuzu noodles. These are clear noodles, briefly cooked and served over small ice cubes with a brown molasses syrup dipping sauce. The crystal-clear, cool-looking kuzu noodles are an ideal light and refreshing summer dessert.

Just looking at this simple preparation is enough convey a deeply cooling sensation on a hot summer day. As a creative chef, you will find many more ways to use pure, refined HON'KUZU in both savory and sweet preparations from both the Japanese and Western kitchen. While many chemically produced jellying and thickening agents are in use today in food preparation, HON'KUZU is a welcome pure, elegant, carefully made ingredient yielding good taste, excellent texture and mouth-feel and the highest level of food safety and purity.

Another well known feature of HON'KUZU is its health benefits. HON'KUZU is very easily digested and promotes good metabolism of other foods. It is said that HON'KUZU can help to reduce a fever by promoting good blood circulation, and HON'KUZU also has an alkalizing effect on the blood, helping to maintain the correct pH level.

Ingredients: arrowroot starch

Shelf life: 4 years, store in cool and dry place

Producer: Morino Yoshino Kuzu Honpo Company was established in the 14th century and is still run by the founding family. The current president is the 19th generation of his family to manage the business. The company is situated in the historical rural town of Udashi in Nara Prefecture. Here they experience the coldest winter in the region and are proud of the local pure mineral-bearing natural spring water.

Nara City, located nearby, is the site of the first Japanese national political movement. It arose in the early centuries of the first millennium and remained the imperial capital before it was moved to Kyoto in the 9th century. MorinoYoshino Kuzu Honpo Company since its founding has over the centuries been supplying their products to the imperial palace court, venerable temples, and, in their time to shoguns, feudal lords and samurai families. The company remains committed to the production of the finest quality kuzu products in Japan.

Size: 6.3 OZ. (180g)