Marutai Ramen: Original Light Soy Sauce Flavor Bo Ramen
Marutai (マルタイ) is a food maker headquartered in Fukuoka, on Kyushu Island, loved for its instant noodles products.
As the cities Hakata and Kurume (the birthplace of Tonkotsu Ramen) are in the Fukuoka prefecture, I first associate Marutai with pork-bone broth Tonkotsu Ramen, like this.
But the company has an extensive line-up of instant noodles, and its signature brand, Bo Ramen (棒ラーメン: literally, Stick Ramen)’s original flavor is Assari Shoyu (あっさりしょうゆ) or light soy sauce.
Marutai’s Original Bo Ramen
Introduced in 1959, the original Bo Ramen, Sokuseki Marutai Ramen (即席マルタイラーメン: Instant Marutai Ramen), has now become one of the classics of packaged instant ramen in Japan and is available at many supermarkets.
Price/Contents
Priced at 187 yen (as of January 28, 2023), Marutai’s original Bo Ramen contains two servings of instant noodles in the package, made up of
- Two bundles of non-fried wheat noodles
- Two silver packets of soup base powder
- Two transparent clear sachets of seasoning oil
Cooking
The cooking of the Marutai Bo Ramen is very straightforward like this,
- First, bring a pot of 450 ml water to a boil and then slip in the noodles.
- Cook the noodles for 3 minutes and turn off the heat.
- Add the soup base powder and seasoning oil to the pot and give it all a good stir
- Transfer the noodle soup to a ramen bowl and enjoy!
Taste
As for the taste, the broth is light soy sauce-based, blended with umami ingredients of pork, chicken, bonito, and vegetables.
Meanwhile, the noodles are thin with a delightful chew, as commonly seen in Tonkotsu Ramen.
The ramen has a somewhat different umami profile than ordinary Shoyu Ramen, but it tastes pretty good!
Ingredients/Nutrition Facts
Lastly, let’s see the specific ingredients and nutrition facts of the original Bo Ramen Sokuseki Marutai Ramen.
| Noodles (Wheat flour, Salt, Vegetable protein, Reduced starch syrup), Soup (Vegetable oil/fat, Salt, Vegetable powder, Powdered soy sauce, Pork extract, Chicken extract, Protein hydrolysate, Dextrose, Bonito extract, Spice, Powdered miso (fermented soybeans), Yeast extract, Dietary fiber), Seasoning (including Inorganic salt), Kansui alkaline water, Caramel pigment, Gardenia pigment, Polyglutamic acid, Sweetener (Licorice), Flavoring, Antioxidant (Vitamin E) (Partially including Wheat, Sesame, Soybean, Chicken, Pork, and Gelatin) |
Nutritional Values
| Calories | 280 kcal |
| Protein | 10.9 g |
| Fat | 2.6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 53.2 g |
| Salt Equivalents | 4.2 g |
| – Noodles | 1.4 g |
| – Broth | 2.8 g |
| Potassium | 910 mg |
