【Reading】さばのいきぐされ

【English Name】Saba no Ikigusare (Mackerel Spoils While Still Fresh)

"Saba no ikigusare" (literally "the live-rotting of mackerel") is an idiom long handed down in Japan that describes how mackerel, which looks fresh on the outside, rapidly deteriorates in quality from the inside. As a well-known caution in cultures of sushi and fish-eating, it is still cited today to call attention when handling mackerel.

There are mainly two factors behind why mackerel loses freshness easily. First, because it is rich in fat, the deterioration speed of the flesh is fast. Second, the large amount of histidine present in its muscle is converted into histamine by the action of environmental bacteria, causing food poisoning. Histamine does not disappear even with heating, and even in low-temperature environments it cannot be completely suppressed. There are reports of cases where, stored at 5°C for five days, histamine reached dangerous levels even though no putrid odor had developed.

On the other hand, treatment with vinegar has the effect of suppressing bacterial growth, and the technique of shime-saba (vinegar-cured mackerel) is the wisdom of our predecessors who skillfully applied this property. In an era without refrigeration, on the "Saba Kaido" (Mackerel Road) carrying mackerel from Wakasa Bay to Kyoto, salt-curing kept quality from declining.