Gift Box
World Box — Japan, the Umami Kit
Five Japanese condiments for cooking past the sushi takeout.
$110
Five Japanese condiments for cooking past the sushi takeout. A kit for moving from "Sunday takeout sushi" to real everyday Japanese cooking. Sansho, the pepper of the Japanese mountains, dusts over grilled eel, floats in a clear dashi, sharpens a bonito sashimi. Sichuan…
Assemble the box yourself
Each product links to the best available merchant for this box. You assemble your box in one click per item .
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Pepper · Pepper cousin
Sansho
Arima, Wakayama Prefecture, island of Honshu, Japan
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Pepper · Pepper cousin
Sichuan Peppercorns
Sichuan Province, Hanyuan and Maowen counties, China
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Spice · Oils, vinegars & honeys
Traditional Tamari
Aichi, Gifu and Mie — the Tōkai region around Nagoya, the historic home of whole-soybean (mame) brewing and Hatchō miso, Japan
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Spice · Blend
Furikake
Kumamoto Prefecture (industrial birthplace, Marumiya 1959) and nationwide, Japan
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Spice · Blend
Shichimi Togarashi
Born in Edo (now Tokyo) at the Yagenbori apothecary; chili itself grown in Nagano and nationwide, blended by houses across the country, Japan
The gift box in detail
A kit for moving from "Sunday takeout sushi" to real everyday Japanese cooking. Sansho, the pepper of the Japanese mountains, dusts over grilled eel, floats in a clear dashi, sharpens a bonito sashimi. Sichuan peppercorns, its Chinese cousin, open the ma-la (numbing-spicy) recipes and the dan dan noodles. Traditional tamari, gluten-free and denser than standard soy sauce, handles tofu marinades and dipping sauces. Furikake — the sesame-and-seaweed rice seasoning — turns a bowl of plain steamed rice or a soft-boiled egg into a meal, and it's the thing you'll reach for daily. Shichimi togarashi, the seven-spice blend, finishes ramen, yakitori, and grilled fish. The box won't replace a trip to Tokyo, but in five jars it lays the foundation of weekday Japanese cooking — the kind where a spoon of tamari and three grains of sansho make steamed vegetables a dish in their own right. The catch: tamari isn't a one-to-one swap for soy sauce by volume — it's deeper and saltier, so start with two-thirds the amount a recipe calls for and taste up from there.
“The complete umami kit: five condiments that cover 80% of everyday Japanese cooking.”
Who & when to give it
Recipients
- asian cook
- home cook
- traveler
Occasions
- christmas
- birthday
- housewarming
Budget
$90 – $150
Level: intermediate
La Pincée doesn’t sell these boxes directly — you buy each product from the merchant of your choice and assemble the gift yourself. A question about the curation? Write to us.