For Immediate Release:
Dateline: Baltimore,
MD
Thursday, March 27, 2014
I bought this on a whim on Sunday to go with a sushi style salad I was making. And what a good buy it was! So you may ask, what exactly is Furikake? Furikake is a lightly salted Japanese condiment that is generally sprinkled over cooked white rice or Japanese rice balls called Onigiri, among other things. It'sas commonplace in Japan as salt and pepper is in America. Furikake usually consists of various ingredients such as sushi nori (seaweed), sesame seeds, dried tuna flakes, ground shiso leaf, salmonflakes, powdered soy sauce or miso, and dried egg. Here is the ingredient list for the version I bought (a hot wasabi version): Sesame Seed, Horseradish, Shaved Bonito, Japanese Mustard Plant, Sugar, Seaweed, Soy Sauce, Salt, and Cooking RiceWine. I purchased it at Wegmans Grocery Store in Hunt Valley, MD for $2.99. It is also available on Amazon.com. My version of Furikake contains ‘shaved bonito'. Bonito flakes, known as katsuo-bushi or katsuobushi in Japanese cuisine, are flakes of dried, smoked bonito fish. They look similar to woodshavings. The "bonito" is a type of tuna. The drying process makes the fish very concentrated in inosinic acid which provides a distinct umami (savory) flavor. In the food industry, inosinic acidand its salts such as disodium inosinate are used as flavor enhancers and are often used in place of MSG. Furikake will enhance flavor to whatever you add it to, whether it’s rice, fish, or stir-fry. It’s an unique seasoning, and will be as versatile as your imagination- - I’m going to try it on my eggs tomorrow morning. I’m also going to try to replace some of the table salt I use with this stuff. Yes, it does contain salt but less of it - - the otheringredients such as the bonito will naturally enhance the flavor of any dish. What EXACLTY does it taste like (sensory evaluation): It’s a perfect combination of savory, salty and sweet. Lots of flavor for little calories. It’s extremely flavorful but oddly has very little aroma. Attribute | *Intensity | Notes: | Overall Aroma Impact | 4 | | Overall Flavor Impact | 15 | | Fishy Aromatic | 5 | Since the bonito is dried over long periods of time, it takes on an extremely savory/MSG type flavor vs. a traditional fishy flavor). The seaweed can also contribute tothe fishy flavor. | Sesame Aromatic | 4 | | Seaweed Aromatic | 5 | | Salty | 8 | | Sweet | 5 | | Umami (savory) | 10 | The ‘5th basic taste’. Taste associated with MSG. | Pungency | 9 | Nose burn associate with horseradish |
*A note about my scaling: I use a scale based on the Spectrum™ Descriptive Analysis Method. A 0 = none and a 15 = extremely strong. Nutrition Information Serving per container: 7 Serving Size: 1 tbsp Calories per serving: 30 Calories from fat 5 Total Fat: 0.5g Sodium: 140mg Carbohydrate: 5g Sugars: 2g Negligible: protein and other nutrients. Want to learn more about Sensory Evaluation? Join me, Annette Hottenstein, on Tuesday, April 29th, for a 90 minute webinar so I can show you how to Make Sense of Sensory Evaluation. This is a 90 minute webinar for health professionalsand RDs can receive 1.5 CEUs. To learn more and sign up: CLICK HERE
About Sensational Sustenance, LLC Sensational Sustenance, LLC, is a nutrition and sensory evaluation consulting company serving the Baltimore metro area and beyond. A wide selection of services for businesses, academia and the community are offered: nutrition counseling, corporate health and wellness programs, food demonstrations, supermarket tours, restaurant and recipe menu analysis, sensory evaluation, focus groups and consumer satisfaction surveys. For more information, please visit http://www.sensationalsustenance.com
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