【Reading】しらす

【English Name】Whitebait

Shirasu is a general term referring mainly to the juveniles of sardine-family fish such as Japanese anchovy and Japanese sardine. The name is said to come from the fact that they are almost colorless and translucent, turning white when heated.

Processing forms are distinguished by water content: salt-boiled "kamaage shirasu," slightly dried "shirasu-boshi," and further dried "chirimen-jako," graded step by step. Fresh "nama shirasu" (raw shirasu) is known as a taste unique to production areas.

Major production areas include Suruga Bay (Shizuoka Prefecture), Sagami Bay (Kanagawa Prefecture), the Enshu-nada sea, the Seto Inland Sea, and the western coast of Kyushu. Shizuoka Prefecture, alongside Hyogo Prefecture, boasts one of the nation's leading production volumes. The peak season comes twice a year, in spring (mainly March-June) and autumn, and winter is a closed-fishing period in many areas to protect resources.

In sushi, it is used as a topping for gunkan-maki, and is also enjoyed in rice bowls, grated-radish dishes, and tempura. A feature is that, being eaten whole including the bones, calcium and vitamin D can be taken in efficiently. Incidentally, shirouo (ice goby, family Gobiidae) and shirauo (Japanese icefish, family Salangidae) look similar but are biologically entirely different fish species.