The “Honjuku” series of cheese-like ingredients for foodservice and food-processing applications, developed by Fuji Oil, is attracting attention.
Cheese-based menu items are popular in the foodservice, prepared-food, and bakery markets. However, many aged cheeses, represented by Parmesan, Cheddar, and blue cheese, rely on imports from Europe. In addition to higher costs caused by soaring global dairy prices and the weaker yen, processing applications have faced challenges related to the stability of flavor and quality and to difficulties in handling.
Against this backdrop, Fuji Oil established its “Honjuku” process, which reproduces the flavor of aged cheese, through more than 10 years of research and development based on the desire to make the deliciousness of aged cheese easier to use and more readily enjoyed. Through proprietary fermentation technology that brings out the activity of lactic acid bacteria to the fullest extent, the company boosts and balances aroma and flavor. It has succeeded in reproducing, in only five days and without using flavorings or flavor materials, the rich flavor of aged cheese that normally takes two years to mature.
The “Honjuku Fromage” series, which uses the Honjuku process, is a line of cheese-like ingredients that reproduces the rich, authentic taste of aged cheese through a new manufacturing method that maximizes the power of fermentation. “Honjuku Fromage P (Parmesan Type),” launched in 2025, is characterized by a taste that reproduces Parmesan cheese’s rich body and flavor. Its use is expanding across a broad range of applications: in pizza, it is combined with shredded cheese to enhance the overall cheese presence, while it is also being adopted for carbonara, cheesecake, and other products.
This spring, the company launched “Honjuku Fromage C (Cheddar Type)” as the second product in the series. This cheese-like ingredient reproduces the taste of rich Cheddar and appears suitable not only for cheeseburgers and savory breads, but also for currently popular indulgent menu items in foodservice settings, such as sauces for potatoes and hamburg steaks.
In addition to delicious taste and flavor, the Honjuku series is characterized by functional properties and stable physical characteristics, including spreadability, the retention of a smooth texture after heating and cooling, and form. Fuji Oil is also strengthening proposals to food manufacturers. The series is expected to serve as an ingredient that can improve operations in food-preparation settings such as confectionery, bakery, foodservice, and prepared foods, while also addressing rising dairy-ingredient prices and the stabilization of supply.
