Uni Shoyu vs Uni Hishio: Japanese Sea Urchin Sauce

Loved by many foodies, sea urchin, “Uni (雲丹)” has plenty of natural, distinctive umami and is known as a luxury sushi ingredient. The roe is not only used as a sushi topping but is actually widely used in Japanese cuisine.

Uni Shoyu vs Uni Hishio: What is the Difference?

For example, when I think of Japanese sauce made with sea urchin, what comes to my mind right away are the 2 varieties, “Uni-Hishio (雲丹醤)” and “Uni-Shoyu (雲丹醤油)”.

These are both available online outside of Japan, so for people who are interested in Japanese sea urchin sauce, today I will talk about how they differ from each other.

Ingredients 

As I wrote about Uni Hishio in this article before, the sea urchin sauce is a specialty of Fukui Prefecture consisting of sea urchin, sugar, salt, onion, amino acid seasoning, polysaccharide thickener, spices, and paprika pigment.

On the other hand, in the name of Uni Shoyu, “Shoyu (醤油)” is the Japanese word for soy sauce, so the key ingredients in the sauce are soy sauce and sea urchin.

Specifically, the Uni Shoyu sauce mainly consists of soy sauce, sake lees, fermented rice seasoning, sea urchin paste, salted sea urchin, salt, starch, sugar, sorbitol, alcohol, and paprika pigment.

Taste

Made by fermenting and aging salted sea urchin, Uni-Hishio is a sauce that makes the most of the natural umami taste of sea urchin roe.

It is smooth and mellow with a mild, rich sea urchin flavor to it.

Meanwhile, Uni-Shoyu is a soy sauce-based sea urchin sauce with a dark brown color from its base ingredient, soy sauce.

This Japanese sauce is like a cross between sea urchin sauce and soy sauce with a slightly coarse consistency.

Uses

Although Uni Hishio and Uni Shoyu are quite different in taste, these sea urchin sauces can be used in the same way and make a great pair with Sashimi raw fish slices, pasta dishes, fresh vegetables, tofu, or the like.