Trader Joe’s is on a bit of a yuzu kick between yuzu kosho, green tea with yuzu spread, and now yuzu miso. What’s interesting about the yuzu miso is, it’s basically a jarred version of miso ae, a sauce/dressing you’d usually make from scratch.
It’s typically just a combo of miso paste, brown sugar, mirin, and in my case lemon juice, but at TJ’s yuzu juice. The first ingredient in TJ’s version is sugar, so it’s definitely on the sweet side. That’s the one advantage of making it at home — you can control the sweetness. So what do you do with it?
We typically use it on blanched green beans or asparagus, though the jar also suggests chicken or salmon. At home I sometimes add sesame oil, just because I like it. In the past, I’ve done green beans and tofu with miso ae (+ sesame oil) to turn a side dish into a main. You can serve it over chilled ramen or somen noodles for a cool meal on a hut summer night. In the spring, you can also do asparagus.
You can thin the Trader Joe’s Yuzu Miso with a little bit of water (or lemon juice, if you want to offset the sweetness a little bit).
For me, Trader Joe’s Yuzu Miso isn’t a buy again, because I’d just make it (and it’s sweeter than I like). I’m sure the sweetness level is designed to appeal to most American palates. But it’s a good way to try miso ae on for size to see if it’s a flavor profile you’re into.
It might also be a good candidate for a riff on miso black cod or salmon. It won’t be exactly the same, but you could definitely thin it a bit and brush it on before broiling or grilling. I’m not much of a fish person (though we did just have kasuzuke black cod I got pre-marinated from Uwajimaya and added some miso paste to), so you could pretty much do the same.