Japan
Wafu Pasta
Japanese-style spaghetti with chirimenjako or shirasu (baby sardines) and buttery shimeji
20 min·2 servings
kabosu
A green Japanese citrus fruit about the size of an orange, with fresh, sour, faintly spicy juice.
Kabosu is a Japanese citrus fruit, grown mainly in Oita Prefecture and related to yuzu and sudachi. It is usually harvested and used while still green, when the juice is at its most sour. The juice is distinctly tart but rounder and less bitter than lime, with a herbal fragrance reminiscent of yuzu. It is squeezed over grilled fish, sashimi, hot pots and noodles, or mixed into ponzu and drinks, and the zest is sometimes finely grated. Fresh fruit is hard to find outside Japan; bottled kabosu juice turns up occasionally in well-stocked Asian grocers or by mail order.
Substitute:
Sudachi or yuzu juice comes closest in aroma. Failing that, lime juice with a little lemon juice: the acidity matches, but the taste becomes sharper and slightly more bitter, and the distinctive herbal fragrance is missing.
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