EnglishWakasa Garei
Fukui's specialty “Wakasa Kurei,” presented to the Imperial Family every year
Wakasa Garei introduction
Dried willow sparrows caught in Wakasa Bay are called “Wakasa flounder.”
Warm and cold currents intersect off the coast of Wakasa Bay, and abundant food flows in, making it a perfect feeding ground for fish.
Fatty Wakasa garei (willow spiny lobster) can also be caught in such rich fishing grounds.
In Fukui prefecture, bottom trawnet fishing is carried out every year from September to around May of the following year, and flounder caught during fishing is processed locally into “overnight drying.”
“The trick is to dry it quickly in the cold wind. Depending on the day, there are times when I finish it in half a day. As local vendors say based on years of experience, “Warm (fresh) winds don't taste good,” the weather is also important in order to make the finest dried flounder.
December, when presented to the Imperial Family, coincides with the year-end gift season, and shipments reach their peak. Above all, the young flounder with its clear body and pink ovaries is an exceptional one with fat on it. It is an excellent item that you can eat by lightly burning it over a fire, and it has received rave reviews even in the book “Japan Mountain and Sea Famous Products Zukai” from the latter half of the Edo period, saying “even though there are many tan-dried products, it must be called the beauty of the world's Izuruigumo above the world.”
Warm and cold currents intersect off the coast of Wakasa Bay, and abundant food flows in, making it a perfect feeding ground for fish.
Fatty Wakasa garei (willow spiny lobster) can also be caught in such rich fishing grounds.
In Fukui prefecture, bottom trawnet fishing is carried out every year from September to around May of the following year, and flounder caught during fishing is processed locally into “overnight drying.”
“The trick is to dry it quickly in the cold wind. Depending on the day, there are times when I finish it in half a day. As local vendors say based on years of experience, “Warm (fresh) winds don't taste good,” the weather is also important in order to make the finest dried flounder.
December, when presented to the Imperial Family, coincides with the year-end gift season, and shipments reach their peak. Above all, the young flounder with its clear body and pink ovaries is an exceptional one with fat on it. It is an excellent item that you can eat by lightly burning it over a fire, and it has received rave reviews even in the book “Japan Mountain and Sea Famous Products Zukai” from the latter half of the Edo period, saying “even though there are many tan-dried products, it must be called the beauty of the world's Izuruigumo above the world.”
