July, 2024 | Sushiblog－Sushiuniversity

What is Atarinegi?

a photo of Atarinegi — The green paste on top of the sushi topping is Atarinegi.

If you are wondering what this term means, you must have had quite a few sushi and Japanese cuisine experiences. Only a few sushi chefs use the word. This may be since the sushi chef who first invented the condiment did not give it a name. Still, it is a very stylish word, so we will explain it in detail.

A photo of Suribachi — The appearance of Suribachi

Suribachi (grinding bowl or mortar) is a tool used to crush food. It is widely known to the Japanese public as suribachi. In Japanese culinary circles, the first half of the word suri is avoided and replaced with the word atari. The Japanese word “Suri” means to steal something from someone else’s pocket or wallet quickly in a crowd. It also refers to the person who steals it. In other words, the chefs use the word Ataribachi (当たり鉢) instead of Suribachi (擂鉢).

As a side note, food processors have recently replaced the Ataribachi, but the smoothness of dough prepared in an Ataribachi (grinding bowl) produces a delicious taste that cannot be discarded and has a mouth feel that can never be achieved with a food processor. It is an indispensable cooking utensil for chefs.

Back to Atalinegi. First of all, negi means spring onion, which you know. And atari, as mentioned above, means to grind food in a grinding bowl. In other words, the original meaning refers to a condiment made from ground green onions.

However, in sushi restaurants, the green paste-like condiment found on Horse mackerel (Aji) or Bonito (Katsuo) is sometimes called Atarinegi. It is a condiment that brings out the flavor of Horse mackerel and Bonito even more.

A photo of Asatsuki — Asatsuki has the most pungent flavor of all leeks, and its leaves are bright green and fragrant.

Atarinegi is made by grinding Asatsuki (Japanese chives) in a grinding bowl until it becomes sticky, then adding squeezed ginger juice. Asatsuki is the most pungent of all edible green onions, and its leaves are bright green and fragrant. Its taste, strange as it may seem, becomes very close to garlic. In Kochi, garlic chips are added to Bonito, so perhaps there is magic in the combination of fish and garlic.

A photo of Aji nigiri — Sushi items such as horse mackerel and sardine have traditionally been topped with spring onion and ginger.

And some sushi chefs have appropriated the name Atarinegi for this condiment. It is so-called Jargon, so that is not the Jargon that all sushi chefs use. This is more common because spring onions and ginger have been placed on top of Nigiri such as Horse mackerel and Sardine for a long time. It counteracts the distinctive fatty smell and enhances only the flavor of the fat, but it requires a lot of spring onions and ruins the appearance of the Nigiri sushi. Therefore, the change to Atarinegi may have been made in order to reduce the amount of spring onions.　Shuzou Okada (岡田周三) is said to have invented Atarinegi.

What is Murasaki?

A photo of Murasaki — The quality of soy sauce is determined by its clear reddish-brown color.

By the time you know some of the jargon used in sushi restaurants, you are already fully immersed in the world of sushi. The first jargon you will probably learn is Murasaki. Jargon is a word, phrase, or jargon that is understood only among certain professionals and their peers, so it is used among people who work at sushi restaurants. It is not used by customers, of course.

Now, what does Murasaki mean in a sushi restaurant? Actually, “Murasaki” is a jargon for soy sauce. So, we did some research to find out how soy sauce came to be called Murasaki. Originally, soy sauce was a food culture of the late Edo period, so there should be plenty of documentation of its use. However, even after researching, ” Murasaki ” ‘s origin was unclear. There are various theories, but here are some of them.

There is a theory that soy sauce has the alias “Murasaki” because of soy sauce’s reddish-brown color.

In ancient and medieval times, the reddish-brown color was called “purple” in Japan, and the color of soy sauce dropped on a small plate was reddish-brown, which is why soy sauce was called “Murasaki” in Japan.

This may seem surprising since soy sauce appears to be black. Generally, dark soy sauce has a clear reddish-brown color. If you put it in a glass or something and look at it through the light in a bright place, you will see it has a beautiful reddish color.

Some people believe that the alias “Murasaki” for soy sauce comes from purple being a noble color.

During the Edo period, although Edo became the political center of Japan, it still lagged behind Kyoto, Osaka, and other cities in the Kamigata region in terms of culture. The leaders of the Edo shogunate, who wanted to build a unique culture in Edo, apparently conceived the idea of making purple, which had long been considered a symbol of nobility, the symbolic color of Edo culture. It is said that the 8th shogun, Yoshimune, had purple dye studied in the Edo Castle.

It is also known as Edo purple (Edomurasaki), the color of the headband that the main character wears in popular Kabuki performances. There is no reason why the Edomurasaki color used by actors in Kabuki, the greatest entertainment of the Edo period, should not be popular. Edomurasaki is also known as the color that symbolizes the aesthetic sense of the chic Edokko, characterized by its deep blue tone in contrast to the reddish Kyoto purple (Kyomurasaki).

In this way, purple culture grew up in Edo. It is widely believed that this cultural background and the fact that dark soy sauce, which was an expensive and precious seasoning at the time, was almost purple, gave rise to the alias Murasaki. As a synonym for “precious,” dark soy sauce in the Kanto region came to be called Murasaki.

Some people believe that Murasaki, another name for soy sauce, comes from the black soybeans of Tamba.

Tanba no kuromame are large, high-grade soybeans originating from the Tanba region of Hyogo Prefecture. It is said that the name “Murasaki” was derived from the purple color of soy sauce made from these black beans.

There is a theory that the name “Shihou” (It means purple mountain) is derived from the elegant name for Mount Tsukuba.

Shihou is said to have originated from the purple color of the surface of the mountain when illuminated by the setting sun. It is also speculated that purple was an appropriate color for Mt. Tsukuba, which has also been revered as a sacred mountain. The theory is that soy sauce was produced in large quantities near the foot of Mt. Tsukuba during the Edo period, giving soy sauce the alias “Murasaki”. Shihou (紫峰) is also used today in the Shibanuma shoyu brand located at the foot of Mt. Tsukuba.

Finally, it is said that soy sauce came to be called Murasaki actually after the Meiji period (1868-1912). If this is correct, the second theory seems to be wrong. Many soy sauce manufacturers have been around since the Edo period, but their websites do not mention the origin of Murasaki at all. It is Jargon after all, so it is not for outsiders to make claims. In addition to Murasaki, one should avoid using Agari (which means three things in Japanese: Green tea in a sushi restaurant, dead fish, and a finished dish), Oaiso (Check), Namida (Wasabi), and Aniki (sushi material that has been prepped first, i.e., old).

Related contents:
Types of Shoyu (Soy sauce)

What is Anisakis?

A photo of Anisakis — Anisakis is usually found on the surface of internal organs, but can also appear on the surface of the fish.

Anisakis is a parasite of fish and shellfish, including mackerel, horse mackerel, sardines, bonito, squid, cod, saury, flatfish, and salmon. Three groups of parasites, Anisakis simplex, Anisakis physeteris, and Pseudoterranova decipiens, are considered to cause Anisakis disease in Japan. Larvae are elongate, 2~3 cm long and 0.5~1 mm wide, and most are translucent white. The species of Anisakis parasitizing fish and shellfish vary depending on the species of fish, the sea area, and the habitat depth.

Anisakis spawns as adults in the stomachs of whales and other marine mammals. When the eggs are excreted with feces, they hatch in seawater, and the larvae are eaten by krill, where they remain as larvae in the krill-eating seafood. Food poisoning occurs when people eat fish and shellfish parasitized by these larvae.

Three to four hours after infection, symptoms such as upper abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting appear. These symptoms are now known to be an allergic reaction to the stomach wall and the Anisakis, rather than direct pain caused by the Anisakis piercing the stomach wall.

Mackerel is the most common type of Anisakis disease case reported in sashimi and sushi. In Tokyo, more than half of these cases are caused by Shimesaba (vinegared mackerel). When serving ingredients such as sashimi, chefs need to look carefully with their eyes to see if Anisakis is present and to remove the internal organs. Anisakis may not be visible, so care should be taken. The food items should not be served as sashimi if they are visible.

Anisakis larvae are parasites primarily on the surface of internal organs. They do not move from the internal organs if the fish is cold and near iced, but they may move into the flesh as the fish loses freshness or over time. For this reason, when purchasing (catching) and bringing home, it is important to keep the fish cold with ice or refrigerant to prevent loss of freshness. However, it is important to note that some species of fish, such as Chum salmon (Sake), have Anisakis lurking in their entire body. Sushi chefs know this and do not use it in Nigiri sushi. In addition, it has been hoped that soy sauce, wasabi, and vinegar may be effective in preventing Anisakis disease. However, the insect bodies are not killed by the amount and concentration used in cooking and the time of treatment.

How to Prevent Anisakis

In 1968, the Netherlands mandated by law that herring to be eaten raw in vinegar be frozen at -20 ºC or lower for at least 24 hours before cooking, drastically reducing the number of anisakiasis cases. The U.S. FDA recommends that fish for raw consumption be frozen at -35 °C for 15 hours or at -20 °C for 7 days, while EU health management standards require visual inspection of marine fish for parasites. The EU standard requires visual inspection of marine fish for parasites and directs freezing treatment (at -20 °C or below for at least 24 hours) for marine fish intended for raw consumption. In Japan, heat treatment at 70 °C or higher or 60 °C or higher (for about 1 minute) and freezing at -20 °C or lower for 24 hours or longer are supposed to kill the parasites.

New Technology for Killing Anisakis

Japan Seafoods, a seafood processing company, and Kumamoto University’s Institute for Industrial Nanomaterials Research have jointly developed a method and device to kill Anisakis by using an instantaneous electric power like lightning to kill them in fish meat. The establishment of a new method of killing Anisakis without heating has brought the risk of food poisoning from Anisakis on non-frozen raw sashimi closer to zero. However, challenges remain, such as downsizing the equipment and reducing costs.

Tokyo Food Safety Information Center-Anisakis