Community of Etari-no-shiokara (fermented Etari)   Naoyoshi Miki

Hello everyone.  We are from Nagasaki Japan and production community of fermented "Etari", anchovy fish. Our home town of Unzen-city is located in Shimabara peninsula and south-west of Nagasaki. It is very fabulous place and famous for Unzen hot-spring, Obama hot-spring. We also have a flourishing agriculture, fishing and tourism.
 Obama and Minamikushiyama district where we live have green and spiritual mountain of Unzen on the back and fertile fishing grounds of Tachibana bay in the front.  Tachibana bay is famous for anchovy fishery and we call anchovy Etari-iwashi or just Etari.

 I am Naoyoshi Miki and make a living by producing "Niboshi".
 He is Michio Seki and runs a net fishery to catch anchovy.
  He is Kazutoshi Miyazaki and deals seafood and also runs the "Niboshi" business.

 Do you know "Niboshi"?  We call "Niboshi" for processed anchovy boiled and dried and use it for making soup stack of Miso-soup.  Miso-soup is the traditional and essential food for all Japanese. Generally speaking, less-fat anchovy becomes high quality "Niboshi" and fatty anchovy is not good for "Niboshi". Why the fatty anchovy is no good for "Niboshi"?  The answer is this.  We don't used any food additive for "Niboshi", therefore, the fat can cause fat oxidation very quickly and the oxidation ruins the taste of "Niboshi".  Fatty "Niboshi" is sold very cheap and costs very high because fatty anchovies are usually in big shapes and take time to dry out.

 Usually fatty and big anchovies are sold and fed for farmed fishes.  Just a few of them are sold for fresh fish market. We use those fresh anchovies for raw fish "Sashimi", cooked "Nitsuke" and deep-fried "Kara-age".  As already mentioned, we consume them as the processed "niboshi".  In addition to those usage, in order for us to eat anchovies over long period, our forefathers created fermented anchovy as called fermented "Etari".

 To make the fermented Etari, we use whole head-to-tail anchovy, add salt, stack straw, pile stone weights on it and then let the anchovies become fermented.  In fall, when Equinox Flower (cluster-amaryllis) bloomed, it used to be the time to start making the fermented "Etari" and take just one month to get ready to eat. Therefore, the fermented "Etari" was something like a preserved food for winter season. However, these days the number of those who consume the fermented "Etari" has been sharply decreasing. Why decreasing? Because every family has refrigerator and no need to keep preserved food, because people prefer reduced salt food, and because the trend of nuclear families cannot make enough know-how keepers for handing down knowledge to next generation.  In addition to that, it has became not so easy to get anchovies as raw material of the fermented "Etari".  Anchovy in Tachibana bay has been sharply decreased? The answer is no.  The real answer is that fishermen decreased, fish price declined, the circumstances of fishery have dramatically changed.

 Many places in Japan used to make the fermented anchovies, however, because of the recent trend of times, the most of the fermented anchovy tradition has disappeared. Fortunately many people around myself were raised by sweet potato and the fermented "Etari" and cannot forget about the fermented "Etari".  Also people newly getting interested in the fermented "Etari" are increasing at the moment thanks to "Ark of Taste” registration.

From now on, we will make our best effort to produce more delicious the fermented "Etari as seasoning" by approaching scientific way not relying on experience or intuition.  In addition to that, in order to increase number of people who use the fermented "Etari", we will appeal its usage as seasoning, create cooking recipes, and explain how to taste the fermented "Etari".  Also we will instruct new generation to make fermented "Etari" so that each family can make their own fermented "Etari".  We will do our best efforts to hand it down generation to generation.

 For us, the fermented "Etari" is the priceless heritage of our province passed down from our forerunner.  To pass on the traditional fermented "Etari" to next generation is something very important for us.  We believe that it will lead us to a long run of making a life as fishermen and also lead our children to protect our bountiful sea.
in conclusion, I would like to thank you all for your attention today.