Seasonings
Moshio
ancient seaweed-brined salt revived on Kamagari Island
A salt named for an ancient technique of soaking seaweed (hondawara) in seawater and burning it to extract salt. The method was reconstructed in 1998 after fragments of Kofun-era salt-making pottery were found on Kamagari Island in Kure, Hiroshima, and it is known as the technique referenced in the Man'yoshu poetry anthology.
- Origin: Hiroshima Kure
- About 670 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
A mineral-rich salt carrying the aroma of hondawara seaweed. Rather than the sharp saltiness of refined salt, it's said to bring a soft, briny sweetness layered with a light seaweed fragrance. A light sprinkle over a rice ball is enough to bring out both the rice's sweetness and the aroma of the sea at once.
How it's made
Seaweed is soaked in seawater, sun-dried, then burned to ash, which is soaked in seawater again to draw out the salt before the liquid is boiled down into crystals. Burning the seaweed as a step is said to add a toastiness and umami that plain evaporated seawater salt doesn't have. The labor involved makes it unsuited to large-scale production.
Why it took this shape
The method is said to have been reconstructed in 1998 after ancient salt-making pottery was found on Kamagari Island in Kure, Hiroshima. Surrounded by sea and rich in seaweed like hondawara, the islands of the Seto Inland Sea are thought to have developed a salt-making method that used seaweed rather than simply boiling down seawater alone. It is known as the technique referenced in the Man'yoshu poetry anthology.
Dishes in the same style
- Ako saltA salt tied to Japan's earliest full-scale commercial saltfields, using the irihama tidal-field method perfected in the Edo period. Controlling seawater with channels and embankments let work continue regardless of the tide, and the method is said to have remained Japan's main salt-making approach for some 300 years.
- Asakusa shichimiA seven-spice chili blend from a shop tracing back to 1625 in Asakusa's old Yagenbori district, often described as the origin point of shichimi togarashi. The neighborhood's history as a hub for medicinal-herb wholesalers is credited with shaping a blend informed by traditional Chinese medicine, and the shop is known for custom-mixing blends to order.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Hiroshima
- Anago MeshiConger eel, grilled kabayaki-style, is sliced and layered over rice cooked in dashi—a dish from Miyajima. It uses "Seto anago," prized for the fat that fast currents help build into the fish, and is said to have begun in 1901 as a bento sold at Miyajimaguchi station.
- AzumaSardine-like mamakari, cured in vinegar, is pressed onto seasoned okara instead of vinegared rice in this coastal sushi. It is said to have begun as a way to stretch scarce rice by substituting the cheap, plentiful soy pulp, and was served at festivals and New Year's gatherings.
- Bishu NabeChicken, gizzard, and pork are simmered with nothing more than salt, pepper, and sake in this hot pot from Saijo, one of Japan's noted brewing towns. It is said to have begun as a simple meal cooked by sake brewers between batches, seasoned lightly so as not to dull their palate for tasting.
- EbamakiRice is tossed with Hiroshima-na pickle, bonito flakes, and sesame, then rolled in toasted nori—a roll from Hiroshima's Eba district, long known for seaweed cultivation. The ends are sometimes tucked shut so it can be eaten one-handed while rowing, a food born for nori fishermen working on the water.
- Fuchu-yakiA Fuchu, Hiroshima take on okonomiyaki that swaps sliced pork belly for ground beef or pork worked right into the batter, so the meat's flavor is said to come through evenly in every bite.
- GansuFish paste coated in panko and fried, a Kure, Hiroshima specialty. Said to have been devised in the postwar 1940s as a way to use leftover fish paste from kamaboko production, an unusual pairing of fried fish cake and cutlet-style crumb.