S&B Golden Curry is the better fit when you want a spice-led Japanese curry roux with a shorter allergen list, while House Foods Vermont Curry favors a mellower apple, honey, and dairy profile in a larger box. Both come in three heat levels, but their labels, ingredients, and preparation details are not interchangeable.
| Key point | S&B Golden Curry | House Foods Vermont Curry |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify product | Golden Curry 198g | Vermont Curry 230g |
| Available choices | Mild, Medium Hot, Hot | Mild, Medium Hot, Hot |
| Verified stock | All three choices in stock | All three choices in stock |
| Current Shopify price checked September 19, 2026 | ¥316 per selected box | ¥370 per selected box |
| Defining formula | 35-spice-and-herb blend | Apple paste, honey, and dairy ingredients |
| Listed allergens | Wheat, soy, gelatin | Milk, wheat, soy, chicken, banana, pork, apple |
| Best quick choice | Spice-forward profile and fewer listed allergen categories | Mellow apple-and-honey direction and a 230g, 12-serving box |
Prices and inventory are a dated Shopify snapshot, not a promise of future availability. Check each product page for the current price and stock before ordering.
The short answer: which Japanese curry roux should you choose?
Choose S&B Golden Curry if the manufacturer’s focus on 35 spices and herbs matches what you want, or if Vermont Curry’s milk, banana, apple, chicken, and pork declarations do not suit your household. Golden Curry is not vegetarian, however, because the current Japanese formulas list gelatin.
Choose House Foods Vermont Curry if you specifically want its apple, honey, and dairy-based direction, need the manufacturer’s clearly stated 12-serving recipe, or prefer a larger 230g box. Vermont Curry contains multiple animal-derived ingredients and honey, so it is neither vegetarian nor vegan.
The words Mild, Medium Hot, and Hot are useful within each range, but they do not create a standardized cross-brand heat scale. A “Hot” box from one company should not be treated as scientifically equivalent to the other company’s “Hot” box. Select first by formula and dietary fit, then by the heat label within that brand.
What is being compared?
This comparison covers the six active, in-stock choices registered in the YUBI100 Shopify store: three S&B Golden Curry 198g variants and three House Foods Vermont Curry 230g variants. They are solid curry roux products that must be dissolved during cooking. They are not ready-to-eat curry pouches, and the product images showing several packages do not mean that one order includes every heat level.
| Brand | Shopify choice | English heat name | Package size | Inventory checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&B Foods | 골든 아마카라 198g | Mild | 198g | 8 |
| S&B Foods | 골든 츄카라 198g | Medium Hot | 198g | 9 |
| S&B Foods | 골든 카라쿠치 198g | Hot | 198g | 10 |
| House Foods | 순한맛(레드) 12인분 | Mild | 230g | 9 |
| House Foods | 중간매운맛(그린) 12인분 | Medium Hot | 230g | 9 |
| House Foods | 매운맛(블루) 12인분 | Hot | 230g | 10 |
S&B Golden Curry: the spice-led option
S&B Foods describes the current Japanese Golden Curry range around a blend of 35 spices and herbs. The Mild version is positioned as aromatic and rich, Medium Hot emphasizes a broad spice aroma, and Hot adds a sharper spicy direction. These are manufacturer descriptions, not results from first-hand tasting by YUBI100.
The three 198g formulas are closely related but not identical. Mild and Medium Hot begin with wheat flour, followed by blended palm and rapeseed oils. The Hot list begins with the blended oils and then wheat flour. Ingredient order matters because Japanese ingredient lists are presented in descending order before additives, so the three labels should not be collapsed into one universal list.
Across all three current Golden Curry products, the declared allergen-containing ingredients are wheat, soy, and gelatin. The presence of gelatin means the Japanese 198g versions compared here should not be described as vegetarian or vegan. At the same time, the current official ingredient lists do not declare milk among the listed allergens, which creates a meaningful distinction from Vermont Curry for shoppers comparing the two packages. This is not an “allergy-safe” claim: the physical package remains the final reference.
Golden Curry nutrition reference
S&B provides nutrition values per 18g of roux. Mild lists 88 kcal, 1.1g protein, 5.5g fat, 8.9g carbohydrate, and 2.3g salt equivalent. Medium Hot lists 87 kcal, 1.1g protein, 5.3g fat, 9.1g carbohydrate, and 2.3g salt equivalent. Hot lists 87 kcal, 1.2g protein, 5.4g fat, 8.9g carbohydrate, and 2.2g salt equivalent.
Those figures describe the roux only. Meat, oil, vegetables, rice, toppings, and the amount of roux used per plate all change the finished meal. The 18g reference also should not be turned into a guaranteed household serving size without following the instructions on the box.
House Foods Vermont Curry: the apple-and-honey option
House Foods describes Vermont Curry as a mellow curry made with apple and honey. The current 230g Japanese products also contain dairy ingredients. House Foods assigns its own heat ranks of 1 for Mild, 2 for Medium Hot, and 3 for Hot. These ranks help shoppers move within the Vermont range; they are not a universal comparison scale shared with S&B.
All three current Vermont Curry lists include edible fats made with mixed beef tallow and pork fat plus palm oil. They also include wheat flour, honey, apple paste, banana paste, dairy-derived ingredients, soy, and pork-related ingredients. Depending on the heat level, the lists also name chicken extract or other chicken-derived content. House Foods’ consolidated allergen declaration for all three variants includes milk, wheat, soy, chicken, banana, pork, and apple.
That makes the dietary choice relatively clear. Vermont Curry is not suitable for vegan or vegetarian diets, and it is not suitable for people avoiding its declared milk or fruit allergens. It contains honey; food containing honey should not be served to infants under one year old. None of these points is a medical claim. They are practical label-reading distinctions taken from the current manufacturer listings.
Ingredients and allergens compared
| Question | Golden Curry 198g | Vermont Curry 230g |
|---|---|---|
| Does the current formula contain wheat? | Yes | Yes |
| Does it list soy? | Yes | Yes |
| Does it list milk? | Not in the current official allergen line | Yes |
| Does it list gelatin? | Yes | No gelatin in the current allergen line |
| Does it contain honey? | Not named in the current ingredient lists | Yes |
| Does it contain apple or banana ingredients? | Not named in the current ingredient lists | Yes, both are named |
| Does it contain animal-derived ingredients? | Yes, gelatin | Yes, including mixed beef-and-pork fat and other animal-derived ingredients |
| Vegetarian or vegan? | No | No |
“Not named” means the ingredient was not listed in the current official ingredient statement reviewed for this article; it is not a guarantee of absence, suitability for severe allergies, or freedom from manufacturing-site cross-contact. Packaging can be revised, and imported stock can overlap old and new designs. Always read the label on the box delivered to you.
Size, servings, and value
Golden Curry’s Japanese box weighs 198g, while Vermont Curry weighs 230g. Vermont is therefore the larger box by net weight. House Foods explicitly publishes a 12-serving full-box recipe for the 230g Vermont package. S&B publishes nutrition per 18g of Golden Curry roux on the current Japanese product pages, but the pages used for this review do not state a single full-box serving claim. For that reason, this comparison does not invent one.
At the Shopify snapshot used for this article, Golden Curry was ¥316 and Vermont Curry was ¥370. Dividing price by package weight would make Golden slightly lower per gram at that moment, but shelf price can change and price per gram does not measure flavor preference, allergen fit, or finished yield. The practical value choice is the box whose formula you will actually use.
| Value factor | Golden Curry | Vermont Curry |
|---|---|---|
| Box weight | 198g | 230g |
| Shopify price snapshot | ¥316 | ¥370 |
| Manufacturer’s explicit full-box recipe | Follow the delivered box | 12 servings |
| Best reason to buy | 35-spice-and-herb formulation and simpler declared allergen set | Larger box with apple, honey, and dairy direction |
Cooking differences that matter
The core technique is similar for both products: cook meat and vegetables, simmer them in water, switch off the heat before adding the broken roux blocks, stir until dissolved, then return the pot to low heat until the sauce thickens. Turning off the heat before adding the roux helps it dissolve more evenly instead of clumping against intense direct heat.
House Foods publishes an exact 12-serving Vermont recipe: one 230g box, 500g meat, four medium onions totaling 800g, three medium potatoes totaling 450g, one medium carrot totaling 200g, two tablespoons oil, and 1,400mL water. When using a lid, the stated water amount is 1,250mL. After the water is added, the ingredients simmer for about 15 minutes; after the roux dissolves, the curry simmers on low heat for about 10 minutes.
For half a Vermont box, House Foods says to halve the meat and vegetables and use 850mL water without a lid or 750mL with a lid. The water is not simply halved because evaporation and pot geometry affect the sauce. Follow those manufacturer amounts instead of calculating a new ratio from the full-box recipe.
For Golden Curry, use the quantities printed on the specific 198g box received. Water directions can differ by package size and market, so an instruction copied from an overseas Golden Curry box or a different weight should not replace the Japanese label. You can still use the same safe sequence: cook, simmer, stop the heat, dissolve the roux, then finish gently.
Which heat level should you buy?
If you are new to either range, Mild is the lowest-heat starting point within that brand. Medium Hot is the middle label, while Hot is the strongest of the three options stocked here. That ordering is reliable within each product family. What cannot be claimed without controlled tasting is that Golden Mild exactly matches Vermont Mild, or that their Hot versions deliver identical intensity.
Formula matters alongside chili heat. Vermont Mild still contains its apple, honey, dairy, and savory animal-derived base. Golden Mild still uses the 35-spice-and-herb concept and lists gelatin. Someone choosing for dietary reasons may therefore decide on the brand before deciding on heat.
| Your priority | Better starting choice | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Spice-led manufacturer positioning | Golden Curry | S&B centers the line on 35 spices and herbs |
| Apple-and-honey formula | Vermont Curry | Both ingredients are explicitly part of the current formula |
| Avoiding declared milk ingredients | Review Golden Curry first | Milk is not in its current official allergen line; always check the box |
| Avoiding gelatin | Review Vermont Curry first | Golden Curry explicitly lists gelatin; Vermont has other animal ingredients |
| Vegetarian or vegan diet | Neither | Both current Japanese formulas contain animal-derived ingredients |
| Published 12-serving recipe | Vermont Curry | House Foods provides exact full-box quantities |
| Lowest heat within the chosen line | Mild | Mild is below Medium Hot and Hot in both ranges |
What neither box includes
Neither listing is a bundle of all three heat levels. One order equals one selected box. Neither is a complete curry meal: meat or another chosen main ingredient, vegetables, water, oil, and rice are separate. Neither product page should be read as a guarantee about a finished dish’s calories or allergens, because those depend on everything added during cooking.
The words “Japanese curry” also do not mean the formulas are interchangeable with every Japanese curry roux. If you want broader pantry comparisons, see our guides to Japanese instant noodles and Japanese snacks worth shipping home. Those articles cover different product categories and do not replace the package directions for curry roux.
Storage and package checks
Keep an unopened box according to its printed storage instructions and best-before date. After opening, wrap or seal the unused roux carefully and follow the label’s refrigeration guidance. Curry roux contains fats and aromatic ingredients that can pick up odors or deteriorate when left exposed.
Package artwork can change while older and newer inventory overlap. Before cooking, confirm the brand, heat level, net weight, ingredient list, allergen statement, preparation directions, and best-before date on the physical box. This is particularly important when the product is being shipped internationally or when someone in the household has a food allergy.
Buying it outside Japan
Both products are compact pantry goods, but food-import rules differ by destination and can change. Personal-use shipments may be reviewed for ingredients of animal origin, quantity, labeling, or prior-notice requirements. A product being legal to sell in Japan does not automatically guarantee entry into every destination.
Check the destination authority’s current personal-import rules before ordering, especially because Vermont Curry contains animal-derived fats and meat extracts and Golden Curry contains gelatin. Keep the original commercial packaging intact. Do not rely on a fixed foreign-currency estimate: exchange rates, tax, carrier fees, and customs treatment can change between checkout and delivery.
Final verdict
S&B Golden Curry and House Foods Vermont Curry solve the same basic dinner task with meaningfully different formulas. Golden Curry is the clearer choice for shoppers drawn to a 35-spice-and-herb identity, a 198g box, and a current allergen line limited to wheat, soy, and gelatin. Vermont Curry is the clearer choice for shoppers who intentionally want apple, honey, and dairy notes, a 230g box, and an exact 12-serving manufacturer recipe.
Neither range wins for everyone. Check allergens first, choose the brand profile second, and then select Mild, Medium Hot, or Hot within that line. For current availability, use the live product pages for S&B Golden Curry and House Foods Vermont Curry.