In Japan they have a seasoning called shichimi. You sprinkle it on things, and it enhances their flavour. It’s made from seven different spices: chili pepper, orange peel, black sesame seed, white sesame seed, hemp seed, ginger and nori.

There’s also a little bit of salt and sugar in there. But that’s it.

It’s incredibly good. And incredibly simple. There is nothing else in it. Just those seven things. And yet it makes everything taste better.*

Citations:

Shichimi is the Japanese name for a spice mix that includes seven ingredients: chili peppers, orange peel, sesame seeds, white poppy seeds, black sesame seeds, hemp seeds and ginger. It’s not like most spice mixes – there are no curry powders or garam masals here – but it’s a flavour enhancer that’s still used in a lot of Japanese cooking.

This is the first time I’ve seen shichimi listed on an English menu in Japan (I actually think it might be the first time it’s been written here at all). The chef at this restaurant in the Ginza explained to me happily how to use it: sprinkle some on top of a bowl of ramen, add some to a pot of soup or stir-fry, or eat with soba noodles. He said he liked to put some on fried eggs too.

And really what you do with shichimi is just use it on everything. It’s my new favourite thing and I’m not sure how I lived without it before. It has this kind of lemony herby smell that sneaks up on you when you’re working with it or eating it, and then you suddenly realise how much better everything tastes with a little added shichimi.

Shichimi is a Japanese spice that can be purchased at any Asian grocery store or online. It comes in a small, opaque ceramic container with a twist-off lid. On the front of the container is the word “shichimi” written in katakana (a syllabary used for foreign words). The label on the bottom reads: “SPICES AND MIXED SEASONING: SHICHI SUMAC, RED CHILI PEPPER, SALT, GINGER.”

The shichimi spice blend itself is a mixture of seven different spices: red chili pepper, sansho pepper, black sesame seed, white sesame seed, hemp seed, dried orange peel and ginger. The red chili pepper gives it its characteristic spicy flavour. Sansho pepper has a slightly fruity and smoky flavour. And the white sesame seeds give shichimi its characteristic nutty taste.

The packaging suggests using shichimi as a seasoning for all kinds of foods including noodles and soup broths. I’ve tried it on various noodle dishes and it works very well. But what I found especially interesting was how well it worked for making popcorn: simply toss about 1/4 teaspoon with 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels and

Shichimi is a Japanese spice mix made from seven ingredients. Its name literally means “seven flavour”, but most of the shichimi products are hot, slightly bitter, and spicy.

It’s usually served with yakitori (grilled chicken and vegetables on skewers), noodles, or sometimes as a condiment for rice.

Shichimi itself has a long history. It was invented in the 1600s by Yoshimasa Sakaki, who was a samurai warrior under Tokugawa Ieyasu. Sakaki served Ieyasu with great loyalty and honor and was rewarded by being made the official food inspector of Edo (modern Tokyo).

According to legend, one day while inspecting food stalls at the fish market he got into an argument with a vendor over the spice mixture that was used to flavour his eel dish. The vendor claimed it contained six ingredients while Sakaki insisted there were seven. In order to settle their argument, they each added one more ingredient to the mixture, making it what is known today as shichimi.

Taste aside, shichimi’s allure stems from its colour: each particle is flecked with red chilli pepper flakes, making it look like a little ball of fire. And no wonder –

I’m not going to lie; this is a niche topic! But if you love Japanese food, or like me, have a deep-seated passion for little things which make a big difference (see my other posts) then read on.

To date I’ve shared with you all some of the tastiest foods in Japan and more. But what happens when you first have Japanese food? What flavours do you experience? For me shichimi [Japanese seven spice] is the difference between “that’s nice” and “wow!”.

I haven’t been blogging here that long but I’ve already been lucky enough to try so many new things. I’ve also had several people ask about this tiny brown bottle of goodness and how to get their hands on it. So today I’m going to show you how to use shichimi and what it tastes like. Let’s get started!

Shichimi is a condiment which is used in Japan, where it is known as the seven-flavour spice. It is a mixture of seven different spices, including red chili pepper, orange peel and black sesame seeds.

Taste is one of the five senses and it gives an enormous amount of pleasure to our lives. Our sense of taste has evolved to allow us to choose what we eat. We are able to distinguish between sweet and salty, bitter and sour, and so on. Basically, we are able to distinguish between the nutrients that will support our survival and those that will not.

Shichimi was brought from China to Japan in the early 8th century. The word Shichimi comes from the Japanese word “shichi” that means seven and “mi” which means flavor or taste. Shichimi was made by mixing seven different spices together: Sansho leaves, chilli pepper, ginger, black sesame seed, hemp seed, coriander and seaweed (kombu).

The history of shichimi is a bit of a mystery. Sichimi togarashi, as it is known in Japanese, is a seven-spice blend that has been around for hundreds of years, but it was never given much attention. It was used mostly as a condiment—dabbed on grilled fish or sprinkled on plain rice—but in classic Japanese fashion its use was never codified or prescribed.

What set off the current craze for shichimi was the publication in 1987 of The Theory and Practice of Shichimi, by Toshihiro Yamamoto. Yamamoto calls shichimi “the soul of Japanese cuisine.” That may be overstating things a bit; still, its versatility makes it hard to go wrong. It can be used on steak, pizza and salad.

Togarashi itself comes from India: the spices were introduced to Japan during the Nara period (710–794). This is when Japan’s distinctive food culture emerged: tofu, miso and soy sauce were all invented around this time.