Concentrating the blessings of Katsuura, the town of citrus
With carefully cultivated fruits,
A gentle moment for your body
Three things that Awa Vinegar Brewery values
Selection
We check the pesticide and cultivation history of the fruit before accepting only those that pass the inspection. We also inspect all the fruit by hand, sorting them by color and removing any defective fruit.
freshness
All raw fruit and finished products are stored in refrigerators (below 5°C) on the premises under strict temperature control.
processing
We process the fruit in a unique production line that maximizes the natural aroma and flavor of the citrus fruits. Thorough hygiene management is also carried out daily, including cleaning the equipment, raw fruit, and bottles.
Awa Vinegar Company was established by its first founder, Kohei Yoshino, immediately after the war. The company started out as a mandarin orange wholesaler, taking advantage of its location in Katsuura Town, one of the leading mandarin orange producing areas in Tokushima Prefecture. At the time, the company's main activity was to sell Katsuura mandarin oranges to Wakayama Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture, which are major mandarin orange producing areas nationwide.
However, as local production increased in each region, it was predicted that selling mandarin oranges alone would decline, so the area shifted to establishing vinegar made from fragrant citrus fruits (sudachi, yuzu, and yuko) as its main business.
At the time, most of the production was done by hand squeezing, but in order to handle the large number of orders, a mechanical squeezing machine was introduced around 1972, which increased production and led to the company accepting orders from food processing manufacturers all over the country.
Currently, Awa Vinegar's pressed vinegar has earned high praise nationwide and is an essential ingredient in the ponzu sauce made by a certain famous food manufacturer. It is also shipped and sold in one-liter bottles to restaurants outside the prefecture (serving French cuisine, puffer fish, etc.).
As part of our commitment to making pressed vinegar, for example, when it comes to yuzu vinegar, the aroma and nutrients are packed into the skin, so we fine-tune the pressure of our mechanical press to find the optimal balance that extracts all of the nutrients and flavor of the yuzu, striving every day to make the best pressed vinegar.
We place the utmost importance on making our main product, squeezed vinegar, which is also the origin of Awa Vinegar Production.
"Our motto is straightforward, honest and serious," Yoshino told us.
Our squeezed vinegar is made from the bounty of nature in Katsuura Town, and we value the ingredients themselves.
