Japan Decoded: What’s in a Japanese salad dressing?

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If salad dressing had not been invented, don’t you think eating greens would’ve been the most boring part of a meal?

Here in Japan, there’s a number of locally produced salad dressing but with most labels in Japanese, some foreigners ditch it for the ‘devil they know’ than the devil they don’t know, so to speak.

Have you ever wondered what’s in a commercially available Japanese salad dressing? Well, let me tell you about the ‘Goma’ salad dressing which is my son’s favorite.

The label reads: Shokuyo shokubutsu (edible vegetable oil), Jozozu (vinegar), sato (sugar), goma (sesame seeds), koshinryo chushutsu-mono (spice extract), shiitake (mushroom) extract, shokuen (salt), chomiryou (seasoning - amino acid), rano (egg yolk), kobo ekisupauda (yeast extract powder), zonenzai (xantham gum), kanmi ryo (sweetener - stevia), genzairyo no ichibuni komugi ringo o fukumu (includes wheat and apples).

At first I thought the indigestible polysaccharide Xantam gum additive should not have been there. But why is it?

Apparently, this additive thickens the consistency of the dressing.

According to a backed-up research, Xantham gum is an efficient laxative which could be a good thing for the gut. But it may not be good news for those with digestive stress issues or people concerned about belly bloat.

Generally, researchers say eating foods with xantham gum in moderate dose does not present a problem. Now, if only they get rid of the sugar….

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