This focus on frozen and non frozen fish made me want to look into the issue a bit more. Since rules and regulations always just seem to be implemented but never go away, I wanted to see if anyone had tried and solve this issue from a “foodie point” of view. Not a health official point of view kind of. Because I don’t think most of them will ever be into sushi. They just know too much about what these little parasite buggers can do to you.

Well, I found that a small company in Hokkaido has developed an original freezing technology, focusing mainly on how people could better enjoy fresh sushi at home. The firm is centered on mail order and at least back in 2004, they registered sales of 53,000 meals a month. They have also entered the US market and orders from large supermarkets and others have been flooding in. The company planned to expand production to one million meals a month.

Focusing on preserving taste
This company focus on preserving the taste of rice and sushi ingredients. The frozen sushi (or to be precise, nigiri zushi, which is the most highly regarded type) was developed by Kairinmaru Beer in Otaru, Hokkaido, which is famous for its delicious brew.

Frozen sushi itself is nothing new, but previous efforts to maintain the taste and texture of the original had been unsuccessful. It was sushi all right, but nothing like the real thing. After many years of trial and error, Kairinmaru eventually came across a method of preparing sashimi that had been handed down in fishing households in Otaru.

The sushi is ready to eat after being thawed
Working from this secret formula, the company developed a technique for preserving the flavor of the ingredients by eliminating the moisture that accumulates between cells before freezing. It is this superfluous water that causes the fish, which needs to be raw, to be cooked when heated in a microwave. Furthermore, since the cell membranes of fresh fish break up with time, causing drips of water to ooze out and allowing the amino acid, the tastiness factor, to escape, the company developed a preliminary processing technique that strengthens the cell membranes. As a result, according to Sawatari, the firm has been able to develop an original technology that preserves the taste of the ingredients and rice even after the sushi has been thawed.

Diagrams of the freezing process:

The ingredients for the frozen sushi all come from Hokkaido, including the Kirara 397 rice. There are about 20 types, including scallop, shrimp, salmon, whelk, white-fleshed fish, squid, and conger eel. Kairinmaru has also developed frozen sea urchin, which was thought to be technically very difficult indeed.

The frozen sushi can be eaten after placing it in lukewarm water for 30 minutes or in a microwave set to defrost mode for two and a half minutes, or leaving it at room temperature (about 22 degrees Celsius, or 72 degrees Fahrenheit) for two to three hours. The flavor remains for about six to eight hours after thawing. The best-eaten-before date is about a month after purchase….

Do we believe in this? Will the (EU) sushi chefs be happy if fish is frozen in this way?

I think I have to order some to try this out to really see if it delivers on it’s promises.
Anyone of you had some frozen sushi like this?

Links: