Buzz
Raspberries are like nature’s version of SweetTarts. For me, they always strike the perfect balance between too sweet and too tart. I moved into a house surrounded by raspberry bushes, so many in fact, that for a while, you could ‘check in’ to 'Amanda’s Bush' on Foursquare. This overabundance has given me plenty to experiment with, and I’ve been waiting all week for the first ripe ones to arrive so I could test out a theory.
As it turns out, my hunch was spot on.
I was sure that raspberries and soy sauce could create something intriguing together, and they do—more than intriguing, they form a tangy umami explosion. The sweetness of raspberries is tempered by their tartness, while soy sauce's saltiness balances perfectly. The result is a flavor that's bright, but not too sharp, with a rich umami depth. While I’ve always enjoyed ponzu, a citrus soy sauce, this combination takes that experience to a whole new level of intensity.
In the past day, I’ve drizzled it over anything I could get my hands on: roasted cauliflower, pork chops, roasted chicken sausage, and my personal favorite, a cornmeal-crusted trout. When you combine the two ingredients, they stop tasting like raspberries or soy sauce; instead, it’s like giving your dish a bold, satisfying punch of flavor.
Here’s how to recreate my brilliant idea.
Raspberry Soy Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup of fresh raspberries
½ cup of soy sauce
Crush the raspberries with a fork until they turn into a pulp. Add the soy sauce and stir until everything is well mixed.
That’s it, the whole recipe. It’s best if you let it sit for a bit, and it’ll last in the fridge for about a week. The raspberry-to-soy sauce ratio means the raspberries will eventually start to sour, but you can buy fresh raspberries at summer prices for the next few months while I figure out how to preserve this burst of flavor.
