60-year-old unwashed sauce jar 'shocking' at Japanese skewer shop

Abe-chan, a popular skewer shop in Tokyo’s Azabu Juban shopping district, recently appeared on a popular Japanese television show, where the owner revealed that the secret to Abe-chan’s success is a large jar of a thick, dark sauce that is brushed onto the skewers of grilled pork to add flavor.

However, instead of being washed daily, this jar of sauce has never been cleaned in six decades, which is what gives the sauce its rich flavor. Around the rim of the jar are hard, dark brown clumps. These are the sauce that has overflowed, solidified, and stuck to the sides of the jar over the years.

Every day, the staff simply pours fresh sauce into the jar, which the owner says only “enhances the aroma” of the jar. The large jar with sauce clinging to its sides may not be an appetizing or pretty sight. But to the owner, it is a “precious treasure” and is displayed right next to the grill.

Abe-chan has been open since 1933. The current owner is the grandson of the original owner. The sauce bottle has been there since the shop opened. The tradition of adding sauce and not washing the bottle has been respected and followed by three generations of owners. The current owner believes that this tradition contributes to the success of the business.

On the show, experts expressed concerns about the potential hygiene risks of storing sauce in a jar that had not been cleaned for more than half a century, making it a breeding ground for bacteria. In addition, to clarify whether a 60-year-old jar of unwashed sauce actually contained the original flavor of the sauce, the show conducted an experiment. In which clean water was added repeatedly to a container filled with black water. After 365 additions, the original components of the black water were almost completely gone. This led to the conclusion that the jar of sauce had only been unwashed for 60 years, while the sauce made 60 years ago did not exist.

The restaurant’s revelation caused a lot of controversy after the show aired. Many diners were concerned about food safety issues. Others said they were regulars at the restaurant, had been eating there for many years and had never had any problems. To date, the restaurant has not commented on the issue.

Abe-chan is not the first restaurant to have such a strange secret. Another Japanese restaurant is famous for using a pot of broth that has been simmering for 65 years. The broth at Wattana Panich, a hot pot and stew restaurant in Thailand, is also cooked in a pot that has not been cleaned for 45 years. These restaurants are still very popular today.

According to OC

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