LOVE Sanuki's report

No. 80 Olive Hamachi

One of the major projects of Yoshimoto, "A project to live in your town", to make Japan feel good from the area. Entertainer "Kaji Tsuyoshi" who lives in Kagawa reports on local products.

Olive Hamachi is Kagawa prefecture's original brand of hamachi, which is fed by mixing olive leaf powder mainly produced in Kagawa prefecture.Mr. Kaji visited Bunta Shimano of Shimano Fish Farm Co., Ltd., which farms olive yellowtail in Aji, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture.

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  Olive hamachi is a collaboration of Kagawa Prefecture's prefectural fish, prefectural flower, and prefectural tree.

  In early October, the Aji fishing port is in full swing with the harvest of olive yellowtail.Lively olive hamachi are being loaded onto trucks one after another.
  Kagawa Prefecture was the first in the world to successfully farm yellowtail in the early Showa era, and has continued to research high-quality yellowtail ever since.Among them, Olive Hamachi was born in 2008 (Heisei 20).Mr. Shimano has been involved with olive yellowtail since its experimental cultivation.

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  ``Kagawa Prefecture requested an aquaculture experiment because we had a track record of recording weather, water temperature, rainfall, seasonal changes such as the sound of cicadas and flying dragonflies, and the amount of food eaten by yellowtail for 16 years. There was,” said Shimano.When she heard about the combination of the Kagawa prefecture fish, ``hamachi,'' and the Kagawa prefecture flower and tree, ``olive,'' she said that she instinctively knew that this would work.

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  Olive yellowtail is yellowtail that has been raised on a diet mixed with olive leaf powder for at least 15 days before being shipped. The fry are placed in the farm around April 4th and raised for 20 days, fed with olive leaves from early September, and shipped from mid-September to January.
  Oleuropein contained in olive leaves has the effect of preventing yellowtail chiai from discoloring.Detailed regulations have been established for the bait, including that it must contain at least 2% oleuropein based on the total weight of the bait.

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  At this point, Mr. Kaji suddenly wondered, ``Is olive leaf food delicious for yellowtail?''
  Olive leaves are bitter and I actually don't like yellowtail.Since bitter food makes it difficult for the fish to bite, Mr. Shimano switches to high-protein, high-calorie food to prevent the fish from becoming thin before shipping.
  ``One month before shipping, we feed the hamachi with olive leaves to let them learn the taste,'' he said.

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  Feeding based on observation, experience, and intuition

  It takes about 5 minutes by boat from Aji fishing port to the farm.Approximately 3500 yellowtails are raised in one pond.Yellowtail is so sensitive that it can hear the sound of a boat's engine, and it is said that it may not eat food if the boat is on a different boat.When the bait flew from the boat, the yellowtail started biting.
  Feed slowly and carefully.Instead of feeding them all at once, you can feed them slowly like in French cuisine to help them gain weight efficiently without wasting anything.We also change the size of the food as the yellowtail grows. "The best size is one that can be eaten in two bites. If it's too big, the food will come out of the gills along with the water, causing the water to become cloudy."

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  Feeding too much can cause jaundice or even death, so compromises cannot be made when it comes to feeding.In order to raise healthy and high-quality yellowtail, it is important to feed the young for 100 days, not just before shipping.
  "How long will it take for you to understand Hamachi's feelings like Mr. Shimano?"
  "It took about 15 years. First of all, we observed. We organized the data, put it together, narrowed it down, and actually acted on it. Then we were able to decide on the amount of food to feed. Numerical data can be carried over. However, intuition and experience cannot be inherited.”

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  Landing and loading, where every minute counts

  On this day, the unloading started around 6:XNUMXam.The olive hamachi is pulled up from the ice cubes using a large net.A plump yellowtail jumps into the boat's aquarium.
  Once the yellowtail is loaded, it quickly returns to the fishing port and is transferred to a truck parked next to the fishing port.Speed ​​is of the essence when shipping live fish (katsugyo).In October, when the water temperature is still high, if the work is delayed by even one minute, the yellowtail may die.

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  The water temperature during transportation is kept at a chilly 17 degrees, and the fish are transported while swimming slowly.If the water temperature is too low, the outside color of the yellowtail will turn green, the flesh will turn white, and the quality will deteriorate.The beautiful golden face is a sign of delicious yellowtail.

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  Characterized by fine-grained and mellow fat

  I had the olive hamachi with a grilled rice bowl recommended by Mr. Shimano.The lightly grilled yellowtail will whet your appetite.
  "It's really delicious. The meat is creamy and the fat from the olive hamachi is mellow," said Kaji, who was impressed by the deliciousness.The great thing about olive leaves is that they can change the taste of yellowtail fat just by giving them for 15 days.When dipped in soy sauce, the fine fat spreads out.

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  Apparently, hamachi is ready to eat six hours after it is cooked, as the umami component, inosinic acid, increases. ``From autumn to winter, the meat becomes firmer and even more delicious,'' Mr. Shimano told me.

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  Olive yellowtail farming started in 2008.Olive Hamachi is so well known that there is no one in Kagawa Prefecture who doesn't know the name.This is because Mr. Shimano and other producers have improved the quality through repeated efforts.
  ``We are also starting new challenges such as frozen sales.We would like to continue our research so that we can deliver even more delicious olive hamachi to the whole country and the world,'' Mr. Shimano said with a smile.

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Past reports

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  The 12th Kagawa lacquer ware

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  29th Lettuce (Lettuce)

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  6th Iriko

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  The 48th Tailagi