大漁を願う海の幸を吊るす
西伊豆の険しい峠をいくつも越えると、古くからの鰹節の生産地である田子の浦港にたどり着く。ここに伝わるのが、日本における魚の加工技術の元型である潮かつおだ。カツオの内臓を取り除き、塩漬けにした後に屋内で陰干しにする。北海道標津の「山漬け」に似た製法だ。スープのダシ兼具材として使われたほか、大漁のシンボルとして神事で捧げられたという。平安時代に編纂された延喜式にも掲載されている、日本の食文化のルーツを伝える発酵食品だ。
Drying the fruit of the sea to pray for the next big catch.
After crossing a number of precipitous ridges in Nishi Izu, you arrive at a port town named Tagonoura that has long been the local production center of dry bonito. Shio katsuo is created from one of the most primitive methods of fish processing developed in Japan that continue to be practiced in this area to this day. After taking out the guts from the bonito, the fish is pickled in salt and dried in the shade, normally inside a shelter. The process is similar to that of yamazuke developed in Shibetsu, a salmon fishing town in Hokkaido. The dried bonito is not only widely used as soup stock or flavor-rich ingredient, but has also been traditionally used as an offering to the gods of the sea to pray for the next big catch. As it is even mentioned in Engi-Shiki (set of ancient Japanese governmental regulations) published in the Heian Period, this is a representative fermented food that takes us all back to the ancient root of Japanese food culture.
どう作って食べるか / HOW TO MAKE & EAT
❶カツオの内臓を取ってよく洗い、3週間ほど塩漬けにする。
❷カツオの塩を洗い、3週間〜1ヶ月ほど陰干ししてできあがり。
❶After taking out the guts from the bonito and washing it well, pickle the fish in salt for about three weeks.
❷Wash off the salt from the pickled bonito, and dry it in the shade for about three weeks to one month.
ダシとして
保存食としてそのまま食べる
As soup stock
Eaten as it is as preserved food
▶食べられている地域 / Regions where it is eaten
西伊豆一帯
Around Nishi Izu
▶微生物の種類 / Types of microorganisms
乳酸菌類やその他細菌類
Lactic acid bacteria and various other types of bacteria