Chefs prepare for annual giant jellyfish invasion
Each year, in an annual rite of autumn, giant jellyfish (echizen kurage) invade the seas around Japan, damaging nets, interrupting fishing operations and reducing the overall quality and quantity of catches. This year the residents of Fukui prefecture have a new strategy to combat the giant jellyfish — they plan to eat them.
(On the menu: jellyfish soup, jellyfish yogurt and jellyfish sashimi)
As part of this new strategy, jellyfish cooking classes were held at the Culinary Culture Center in the city of Obama on August 28. The classes attracted about 20 interested people from the local fishing cooperatives and hotel owners association.
Toshiko Komatsu (58), a member of the Oshima fishing cooperative women’s group, presented recipes that call for raw jellyfish. “Jellyfish consist mostly of water,” she says, “so they are not fit to be steamed or grilled.” Her dishes feature bits of last year’s giant jellyfish catch that have been preserved in salt, served Chinese-style with cucumber and vinegar soy sauce or served with plum sauce.
Michiko Kamisako (67), who fishes for a living in Oshima, provided some basic advice on jellyfish preparation. “Big jellyfish can be eaten if you slice them into tiny pieces,” she explains while squeezing strips of finely sliced jellyfish.
Beginning August 19, reports of giant jellyfish trapped in fixed nets began coming in to the Takasu Fishery Harbor in Fukui city. On busy days, up to 100 jellyfish can become trapped in each net. Most encounters with jellyfish ranging from 50 to 100 cm in diameter are occurring along the northern Fukui coast.
Echizen kurage, also known as Nomura’s jellyfish, can grow up to 2 meters wide and weigh up to 200 kilograms (450 lbs) each. That’s a lot of sushi.
[Source: Chunichi Shimbun]
Kurage yogurt?! Sounds about as delish as aojiru. I remember a TV report showing some new kurage shredders they’ve installed on fishing boats on the Sea of Japan. No one shows the poor creatures any pity…
The Japanese will eat anything… yuck!
[…] Chefs prepare for annual giant jellyfish invasion […]
The Japanese will eat anything… except mad-cow-infected American beef… mmm… i’m lovin’ it, yeah, and all that… moooo!
The solution to everything.. EAT IT! :D
Yeah what he said. Eat it! :D Mwahaha well I don’t see the harm in it. If it’s a good source of food for the asians then why not? Yeah it may seem yucky but eh every culture is different.^.^
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[…] When local Japanese fisherman found their buisness threatened by sea monsters, in this case 6-foot long 450 pound poisonous jellyfish, they decided to do something about it and make these monsters into food. Though jellyfish is far more popular in China, Japanese people have begun eating them dried and salted as a sort of novelty food. College students have even turned them in to tofu and jellyfish collagen is apparently very beneficial for your skin. Posted by Jonathon Marshall | Permalink | Leave a comment | Trackback […]
u yucky ppl! jellyfishes are so bland… desi it up wit a lil chili powder!
Sweet this is some cool stuff here i wish i could eat it but on the other hand i would like to see a giant jelly fish as well
by the way i like there food in asia they will eat anything over there though but im ok as long as it tasts good
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how could ppl actually cook poor little jellyfish!!!!
Er… little? Those things are practically 2meters wide!
poor little jellyfish!!!?? no way…bad jellies stay away from me.
OMG! How could they?! Jellyfish aren’t supposed to be used like this!! Jellyfish are not intelligent but they shouldn’t be food either! Poor jellies *sob*
The Japanese has just done the entire world a favor! The Japanese are providing the entire world population with damage control to a chaotic result to industrialization and global warming. We should be thanking them for biting the bullet for all of us by eating those giant jellyfish and allowing my family to keep enjoying South Florida beaches.
P.S. Peanut butter and jelly, may take a whole new meaning - LOL.
[…] vederle (e provare a carezzarle) è il sogno di una vita, se i cuochi si fregano le mani perché cucinate queste meduse oscurano in squisitezza persino i manzi di Kobe, i pescatori vivono, invece, un […]
Those defending the ‘poor little’ jellyfish should also remember the big duffers are sliming and poisoning much of the local fishermen’s catch, and breaking nets with their SHEER WEIGHT. Sure I like jellyfish, and plenty of other animals too, edible or no. But the Echizen kurage are disrupting the catch, so…nom nom nom.
The yoghurt, they can probably keep for themselves.
thats not too bad, i eat lobster onch over hot rice.
i have a picture of an even bigger jelly fish! do you think my picture is real or fake i’m not so sure! google search box jelly-fish, portuguese man of war jelly-fish and maybe even the lions mane jelly-fish. what do they all have in common? Even though my name is jelly fish lover i have to confess they seam like the monsters of the ocean.
argh, i hate sea food at all…
[…] problem with combating the jellyfish is that when they are under attack or killed, they release billions of sperm or eggs which connect […]
these things are gross and creepy beyond hell, happy that people are eating them! i still think eating tako (octopus) is gross too!