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Murayama Zosu: Making the finest vinegar products for more than 250 years

Kyoto vinegars are popularly known as kyozu, and among the several locally produced brands, Murayama Zosu's Chidorisu has an especially high reputation. Its unique fullness and depth of taste, unchanged for over 250 years, are absolutely indispensable for bringing out the flavor in kyo-ryori (traditional Kyoto cuisine), which has become synonymous with fine Japanese food.

Large scale Japanese vinegar production dates back to the Muromachi Period (1333 - 1576). Before that time, vinegar, like sake, was a luxury product available only to the aristocracy. Beginning in the Genroku era (1688-1704) vinegar came into wide use to fix the color in dyed kimono fabric. This process is no longer carried out with vinegar and so today the only vinegar makers surviving in Kyoto are the ones making vinegar for cooking.
Murayama Zosu produces its vinegar through a series of separate stages. First, they take normal white rice and saccharify it. Following this they ferment the mixture into alcohol. Finally, they add an acetic acid producing bacteria and allow the mixture to ferment further until it becomes vinegar. Murayama Zosu produces its vinegars using two methods: 1) their handmade vinegar making process takes about three months from start to finish. 2) using machine production techniques, the company produces about 1,000,000 liters of vinegar a year.

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