【Reading】ふなずし

【English Name】Funa-zushi

The oldest existing "narezushi" in Japan. It is a specialty of Shiga Prefecture, where there has long been a custom of eating funazushi in place of medicine when suffering from physical ailments such as stomachaches. It is made with rice and salt, using nigorobuna and gengorobuna, species endemic to Lake Biwa. It has a distinctive fermentation odor, but the method of re-pickling it in sake lees suppresses the odor. Because the protein of the fish flesh breaks down into amino acids, it has a distinctive aroma. Funa caught in spring are salt-pickled until summer, after which vinegared rice or white rice is placed in the belly and fermented to make it.