Soy Sauce-flavored Chocolate? Why Not?
Kikkoman, Blommer Offer New Desserts to Taste
A sampling event took place in Chicago recently, offering new and adventurous desserts featuring soy sauce and chocolate.
The event, held at Blommer Chocolate Company’s R&D Applications Lab on Nov. 16, was co-organized by Blommer and Japan’s major soy sauce brand Kikkoman, in collaboration with Satoshi Ito, Official Residence Chef for the Japanese Consul General in Chicago.
About 30 guests gathered to taste three new creations: vanilla ice cream topped with soy sauce-flavored chocolate sauce; milkshake using soy sauce-flavored chocolate; and soy sauce-flavored truffles.
Soy sauce is a traditional Japanese condiment and widely accepted worldwide today. Recipes for both Japanese and non-Japanese dishes abound that require the use of soy sauce. But the combination of soy sauce and chocolate is not something that you encounter every day.
From left: Charles Quinto, Melissa Tisoncik, Hiroshi Tajima, Satoshi Ito, Marie Loewen, Cara Watkins, Eric Pehr, Robert Karr
The idea of soy sauce-flavored chocolate hatched from a casual conversation between Ryohei Tsuji, President of Kikkoman Foods, Inc., and Robert W. Karr, Jr., Blommer’s Chief Legal Officer & Vice President. The combination may sound foreign, but the idea, particularly here in Chicago, can be seen as the fruit of the long-standing ties, mutual understanding and friendship between Chicago and Japan.
Ken Sugiura, KIKKOMAN SALES USA, talks about soy sauce at Blommer’s R&D Lab
Kikkoman Foods, Inc. operates a production facility in Walworth, WI, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary in 2023. With eight production facilities outside Japan, Kikkoman is a leading global soy sauce supplier.
Chicago will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of its sister-city relationship with the Japanese city of Osaka next year.
Meanwhile, Blommer is the largest supplier of ingredient chocolate in North America. It was purchased in 2019 by Japan’s Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., which is headquartered in Osaka. It is a global leader in the production of food ingredients including oils & fats, chocolate, emulsified & fermented foods, and soy protein foods.
Consul-General of Japan in Chicago Hiroshi Tajima was at the tasting event to take a bite of Blommer’s and Kikkoman’s new inventions.
Consul General Hiroshi Tajima
In his opening remarks, Tajima praised Karr, who played a pivotal role in materializing the idea of new dessert creation in just a few months. He also thanked Naohiro Rokukawa, Executive Officer/Chairman of Blommer and President of Fuji Specialties at Fuji Oil Holdings, as well as Blommer’s R&D staff and Kikkoman, for their hard work and generosity.
“I was excited when I heard about this idea of creating new desserts,” Tajima said. “I think that [through this event] we were able to demonstrate the good relationship that has developed between Japan and Chicago over the past years.”
“Our mission at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago is to help strengthen the bond that exists between Japan and the U.S. and facilitate our good relationship, “Tajima continued. “In particular, I believe that events like this one offer a very special opportunity for cultural collaboration.”
“I hope that all of you will enjoy tasting these wonderful desserts today, and I look forward to talking to all of you to kick off another future collaboration and friendship,” he concluded.
Marie Loewen, Blommer’s R&D Corporate Manager, Applications, said she and her team started “pretty close” to ice cream and then moved further away from it in preparing the three creations.
Marie Loewen
She said they had a lot of fun experimenting and learning about soy sauce. “I’ve been working for Blommer for 12 years now, and paired chocolate with beer and wine. Pairing chocolate with soy sauce sounded crazy, but it was not,” she continued. “I’m very excited for you all to try and find out the magic that happened.”
Chef Satoshi Ito has been an advisor to the R&D team from the beginning of the project. He said he knew putting soy sauce and chocolate together wasn’t unthinkable. After all, a small amount of salt is often added to sweets. Products like cacao-added miso paste and cacao fruit jam are marketed in Japan, and he occasionally experiments making miso-flavored custard pudding.
“So I’ve suggested to the team some possible matches of ingredients,” he said. “I don’t think pairing unconventional ingredients was that hard for the team,” he said. “I think putting the [pairing] idea into actual desserts was the hard part.”
Creation 1: Ice Cream with Soy Sauce-flavored Chocolate Topping
According to Loewen, the topping was made by adding soy sauce to the mixture of different types of cocoa powders. The result was “something magical.”
“It’s almost indescribable, it’s just something different,” she explained. “Soy sauce doesn’t just bring the salt flavor; it brings umami.”
Consul General Tajima (L) enjoys tasting ice cream with Naohiro Rokukawa, Executive Officer/Chairman of Blommer and President of Fuji Specialties at Fuji Oil Holdings
Consul-General Tajima said he detected a roasting aroma and umami in the topping. “It’s pretty good with a roasted flavor, but the soy sauce felt a bit weak. It could have used even more soy sauce,” he said.
Creation 2: Milkshake
This one, Loewen explained, is more like an “American diner classic“ with a twist, using multiple types of cocoa powders plus soy sauce. Its flavor reminded Tajima of salted chocolate that’s gaining popularity in Japan.
“It should be served chilled,” Tajima said and suggested that maybe something crunchy could be added to the drink that gives some texture, just like orange pulp does to orange juice.
Creation 3: Truffles
These ganache truffles were flavored with soy sauce and coated with cocoa powder.
Tajima thought the sweet and salty were well distributed in the truffles, and they were the easiest one among the three creations for everyone to enjoy.
“I had tasted ‘nama chocolate’ [ganache] in Japan, and these truffles reminded me of that,” he commented. “These are very delicious.”
The guests were handed a score sheet to keep scores on each of the three creations. The scores were tallied at the end of the tasting.
Melissa Tisoncik
Melissa Tisoncik, Blommer’s R&D Head, closed the day by thanking the “great people, great ideas and great minds” that helped materialize the event.
“What we aim to do here [at the R&D Lab] is to bring together people with ideas from different cultures and translate them into something inspiring that elevates our services,” she said. “What we do here is part of our services, and it only comes alive when a great team like this gets together.”
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People in the Blommer Chocolate Company’s R&D Applications Lab
Those who attended the tasting came from various departments of Blommer, as well as the Japanese business community.
Juergen Halle, a finance specialist for Blommer, liked the combination of sweet chocolate and salty soy sauce. “Personally, my favorite was the number three, truffles.”
“I think it’s great for both brands (Blommer and Kikkoman) to try to advocate innovative creations and create new demands and opportunities,” he said.
Mark Slusser, General Manager of Blommer’s East Greenville, PA, facility, said the milkshake was a little too salty for him but he enjoyed the sweet & salty ice cream and truffles.
“It was a very good tasting event,” he added. “My favorite sweets are sour gummy candies.”
Kelly Crot, Senior Director of Blommer’s Human Resources, said it was a fun event and a good opportunity to understand her own company’s product lines and how they are expanding.
Blommer’s General Manager Neil Fulton has never thought about putting chocolate and soy sauce together before. “So it was really nice to see how those two things go together in different ways; the event was very insightful,” he said. “Personally, I liked the truffles the most.”
Naohiro Rokukawa flew to Chicago from Blommer’s North American headquarters in East Greenville, PA, to attend an executive meeting.
“This is a wonderful event here today,” Rokukawa said. “We’ve done pairing chocolate with whisky before; this time it was chocolate and soy sauce. We must come up with something different next.”
Soy sauce is a fermented food. So Rokukawa thinks it should go well with chocolate, which is also made by fermenting cacao beans. The challenge, he explained, is to figure out how to combine different raw materials to create good flavors.
“Chicago is called the ‘Capital of Candies’ because it’s traditionally been a cradle of American candy makers,” Rokukawa pointed out. “Osaka, where Fuji Oil is headquartered, is also known as the city where you eat until you drop. We want to expand our product lines as we promote further ties between these two sister cities,” he said.
Blommer’s current focus is on the products labeled “Better for You” (BFY), a high-end segment of candies that use less sugar while the level of sweetness is not reduced. “We are developing healthier options like BFY,” Rokukawa said. “We want people to enjoy candies without worrying about their health.”
Hiroyuki Nemoto, Chief Executive Director of JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) Chicago said he enjoyed sampling all three creations.
The event was particularly interesting for Nemoto when considering the fact that Fuji Oil has purchased Blommer Chocolate, top industrial chocolate supplier in the Americas, to establish manufacturing bases in the U.S. and launch a global marketing network as the third biggest industrial chocolate maker in the world.
“I think when companies make an effort like this [experimenting with new flavor creations], it takes them to the next level,” Nemoto commented.