Enhancing enjoyment: Hanamaruki looks to tap sodium reduction and affordability demands in ASEAN with new koji powder
Hanamaruki is best known for having developed the world’s first liquid shio koji product, and only recently made strides to enter the South East Asian market after having seen significant success in East Asia and the west.
The firm has now developed a new koji powder with a focus on flavour enhancement, believing that this can cater to major innovation requirements in ASEAN.
“This koji powder can of course enhance the umami flavour as that is its own flavour at its essence, but it can also enhance many currently trending flavours such spice, cheese, chocolate and more,” Hanamaruki Overseas Business Department Assistant Chief Sales Representative Morise Maehara told FoodNavigator-Asia at the recent Fi Asia 2024 show in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“In Japan this is currently already being used in many products such as processed meats in order to enhance umami and reduce salt content, as well as ready-to-heat and ready-to-cook products like cheesy chicken and spice mixes to enhance the spice aspect of these.
“Sodium and salt reduction is becoming increasingly in demand due to consumers requesting this more and more, because many of them are concerned with high sodium intake increasing the potential risk of chronic diseases.”
Hanamaruki has started selling its koji powder in Indonesia, where it has found significant popularity amongst fried chicken manufacturers.
“Indonesian consumers are very fond of Japanese food, but of course many consumers here do not eat pork,” he said.
“One of the most popular dishes here is katsu-don or fried pork chop, and to adapt to local needs this is usually changed to chicken katsu-don instead, and there is often a need to further increase the umami taste of these products to bring the same Japanese cuisine experience.
“This is where the koji powder has come into play by enhancing the umami flavour of the chicken katsu don, and this has obtained halal certification so it can cater to the wider community.”
The firm also believes that it can tap on the ongoing demand for affordable products, which is a major driver in not only the Indonesian but entire ASEAN food industry currently.
“One very important category we have seen a lot of demand for flavour enhancement in is actually cocoa or chocolate, and we are already using the koji powder in products like cookies and biscuits to enhance the chocolate flavour,” he added.
“This is very strongly driven by the fact that many ingredients, including cacao, are becoming more and more expensive due to inflation and other economic factors, so using more ingredients means higher production costs.
“Being able to enhance the flavour of cocoa for example would mean that a manufacturer would then have the option of reducing the amount of cocoa used in the end-product, but still maintaining the same flavour profile.”
Indonesia main target
Indonesia is the main development target for Hanamaruki in 2024, and Maehara has plans to expand to Malaysia as well.
“We started bringing in our liquid shio koji to Indonesia in 2023 and this year we launched the koji powder here – the aim is really to hone in and learn the ropes about the Indonesian market as it is a key target for us,” he said.
“We also want to expand into Malaysia, but this will take some time as we learned that the halal certifications for Malaysia and Indonesia are a bit different and there are some adjustments we need to make to enter that market.
“Either way, South East Asia is definitely a major region for us and we will be focusing a lot of effort into this market.”
