Salmon Sushi

Sake (Salmon / Salmon Trout)

White Fish & Salmon

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Order Salmoniformes, Family Salmonidae, Subfamily Salmoninae

Generally, the 7 species of the genus Oncorhynchus plus the Atlantic salmon are called salmon, including sea-run types that return from the sea to their native rivers and freshwater types. The history of eating it raw in Japan is short, and most sushi toppings and sashimi are farmed fish from Norway or Chile.

In Japan, sake once meant only chum salmon, but the influx of imported salmon from Norway triggered the spread of the name salmon, and now fish belonging to the genus Oncorhynchus and the genus Salmo of the family Salmonidae are often called salmon or sake. Generally, fish of the family Salmonidae, including salmon and trout, are known for the habit of descending to the sea and returning to rivers, but there are also species that live only in freshwater. Also, because of the near-red color of its flesh, it is often thought to be red-meat fish, but this is due to pigment contained in the shells of its prey such as shrimp and crab, and classification-wise it is a white-meat fish. Salmon sushi appeared surprisingly late, around 1980. It is said that Norway spread salmon sushi: Norway, where salmon farming and raw consumption had already become common, marketed salmon as a sushi topping to Japan, which did not eat salmon raw because chum salmon has parasites, and it being adopted at conveyor-belt sushi is said to be what triggered its spread. Currently, much of what circulates for raw consumption such as sushi toppings and sashimi is salmon trout (sea-run rainbow trout), Atlantic salmon, and king salmon (masunosuke) farmed in Norway and Chile. These can be eaten raw because they have been frozen once or farmed in environments where parasites cannot develop.

Salmon, the World Champion of Sushi Toppings

Salmon sushi is a popular sushi topping from children to adults in Japan, but especially overseas, salmon is overwhelmingly more popular than tuna, having gained the unshakable position of being THE king of sushi toppings. Salmon sushi has just the right softness, fat, and sweetness, and from its unity with the vinegared rice it is delicious even when pressed raw, but it is also delicious seared or combined with sliced onion, mayonnaise, avocado, cheese, and the like. Around the world there are various creative salmon sushi such as ingeniously crafted salmon rolls, and this abundance of variations is surely another virtue unique to a global sushi topping.

The Ambiguous Relationship of Salmon, Sake, and Trout

Fish of the family Salmonidae can be classified into trout (Japanese: masu), which live their whole lives in freshwater, and salmon (Japanese: sake), which descend to the sea, but the names actually used do not always match this classification. Furthermore, in Japan, only chum salmon was once called sake, while sockeye and coho salmon were called benimasu and ginmasu. Also, the king salmon is still called masunosuke, so the relationship among sake, salmon, and trout is quite ambiguous.

In the first place, the name salmon derives from the scientific name of the family Salmonidae, whose root means "to leap." Academically, sake (salmon) refers to the 7 species of the genus Oncorhynchus: chum salmon, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, pink salmon, cherry salmon, rainbow trout, and king salmon (masunosuke), and besides these there is the Atlantic salmon of the genus Salmo.
Also, the rainbow trout within the Oncorhynchus genus is a trout, and that very rainbow trout itself has two versions: the small rainbow trout that lives only in freshwater, and the large salmon trout (literally "sake-masu"!) artificially farmed in the sea, making it quite complicated.

With academic naming and naming for branding purposes mixed together to create confusion, plus Japan-specific issues piled on top, it looks like the ambiguous relationship among these three will continue for some time yet.