Italian-made Japanese Amaro
What is "YUNTAKU", made from bitter melon!?

In recent years, Italian traditional liqueur Amaro has been gaining attention within Japan's bar scene. While Italy boasts an incredibly diverse range of Amaro varieties, the one currently attracting attention in Rome and Milan is, surprisingly, a bitter melon-based Amaro called "YUNTAKU Italian-made Japanese Amaro
What is "YUNTAKU", made from bitter melon!?
". What on earth is this Amaro!?

writer：Megumi Ueda（ローマ在住）

Benedetta Santinelli (right) and Simone Lacetta (left), founders of YUNTAKU.

Bitter melon as amaretto!? That unexpected inevitability.

For Italians, Amaro is deeply rooted in daily life, historically originating as a medicinal concoction crafted in monasteries.

It is cherished as a 'herbal liqueur' steeped in culture and tradition (serving various purposes, though most commonly drunk after meals to aid digestion), and it is standard practice for bars to stock several varieties.

Amaro is made by macerating herbs, spices, roots, flowers, and bark in alcohol or wine to extract their components, with sugar added at the end to finish.

The flavour profile varies greatly depending on the botanical combination used. For instance, 'Cinar', which you may well have seen, is based on artichoke as stated on the label, and the variations are endless.

Now, the creators of the YUNTAKU we're introducing today are Benedetta Santinelli and Simone Lacetta, two Italians.

While travelling through Japan and visiting Okinawa, they encountered bitter melon in an unexpected way.

"After experiencing Tokyo's bustling streets, we ventured further to Okinawa," they recall. "In stark contrast to Tokyo's clamour, Okinawa had a more relaxed pace of life."

"Walking along the streets of Naha's old port, we saw numerous signs depicting a rough, cucumber-like vegetable alongside a doctor in a white coat,"

"What could this be?" Intrigued, we approached and discovered it was a stall selling bitter melon extract. Tasting it, it was incredibly bitter, yet I sensed something special beneath that intense bitterness."

Believed to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and effective against various ailments like headaches and menstrual pain, bitter melon is indispensable for the health of Okinawa's people.

Learning that the locals, renowned for their longevity, drink bitter melon extract daily, they became convinced it would be the perfect base for an amaro.

For Benedetta and Simone, raised within Italy's culture of drinking Amaro as a digestivo, this idea flowed quite naturally.

Despite Italy boasting countless Amaro varieties, surprisingly few incorporate foreign cultures or ingredients.

"Precisely because Japanese cuisine is attracting global attention now, what if we created an amaro that pairs well with Asian food?"
And so began the creation of the bitter melon amaro.