The world of "Dried Small Fish"

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We, Japanese like eating dried small fish. There are many kinds of dishes made from dried small fish in Japan and there are also many kinds of dried small fish like following.

1. "Tazukuri" which is made from small (about 4.5 cm) anchovy (Engraulis), not boiled one.
   
2. "Chirimen" or "Shirasu boshi" which is made from especially small (1.5 cm to 3 cm) anchovy (Engraulis), boiled one.
   
3. "Maruboshi" which is made from middle size (7 cm to 11 cm) Etrumeus, not boiled one.
4. "Doboshi" which is made from small size (5 cm to 7 cm) Etrumeus, not boiled one.
5. "Kaeri" which is made from small (about 4 cm) anchovy (Engraulis), boiled one.
   
6. "Hirago Kaeri" which is made from small (about 3cm) sardine (Sardinops), boiled one.
7. "Ikanago" which is made from small (about 1.5 cm to 5 cm) Sand Lance (or Sand eel) (Ammodytes), boiled one.
8. "Gimpo" which is made from small (about 3 cm to 4 cm) Blennius, boiled one.

We like eating all items mentioned above but especially "Chirimen" is most popular in the Japanese market. The total amount of production in Japan is about fifty thousand to one hundred thousand metric tons per one year. However, this is not good enough for the Japanese market. So, we are importing about five thousand of Chirimen per every year from overseas. Today, we are importing Chirimen from Indonesia, China, Thailand and Korea and still looking for other countries where can produce Chirimen.

The unit price always changes and it's depending on the catching condition in Japan and the exchange rate of the Japanese yen. For example, now (Jun. 15, 1998), the price of Thai Chirimen is around US $ 5.00 per one kg. However, it was US $ 7.00 in October 1997. Moreover, it was US $ 11.00 in September 1996. The price seems to make a large change easily.

Here, I will show you some photographs and some simple documents written about how to make the dried small fish. If you have any information about small anchovy or Etrumeus, please send E-mail to me. I have further detailed information.

1. How to keep the freshness.
   Keeping the freshness is the most important problem to make any kind of Dried Small Fish and keeping the freshness is how to use the ice.

2. How to process "Tazukuri" (Oct. 15)
   This is the manufacturing method of Tazukuri.

3. How to process "Tare-Sakuraboshi (Mirinboshi)"(Jan. 28)
   This is the manufacturing method of Tare-Sakuraboshi (Mirinboshi).

4. Manufacturing method of Boiled & Dried Small Fish
   This is a basis of manufacturing method of Boiled Dried Small Fish. This method can be applied to making "Chirimen" and "kaeri" and "Ikanago" and "Gimpo."

5. Standard method of the moisture measurement
   This is a basis of the moisture measurement for Dried Small Fish.

6. Photograph collections of the Chirimen factory
   I took these photos at the Chirimen factory in Indonesia.

7. How to catch the small raw materials.
   I would like to introduce the way of catching in the Asian countries.

8. How to process "Doboshi"
   This is manufacturing method of Doboshi.

9. How to process "Niboshi" (Dec. 07)
   This is manufacturing method of Niboshi. And here, you can see what is the Hot Wind Drying Machine and you can also see the structure of drying room for the hot wind drying machine.

10. How to eat the Dried Small Fish in Japan.
    This is the way of eating Dried Small Fish in Japan.

11. How to prepare samples.
    If there are catching of small anchovy, you can prepare small quantities of samples easily.

12. How to send the samples to Japan. (Oct. 15)
    "How to send the samples to Japan" is a frequency question.

13. A new drying method in Japan
    Here, I'll show you a new drying method in Japan. In Japan, recently, the automatic boiling machine and automatic drying machine is utilized for drying small fish. I'll illustrate how to use these machines with my photographs.

14. The Structure of the "Chirimen" circulation in Japan.
    This is the structure of the "Chirimen" circulation in the Japanese market.

15. How to select the foreign materials. (Oct. 15)
    Selecting foreign materials is very important to export dried small fish to the Japanese market.

16. FAQ
    I have received many questions from many countries since I set this web-site on the Internet. Some of them were the similarly each other. I'll show you some questions and answers for reference. Please don't miss this part of my web page. There are many important suggestions for the dried small fish industry.

E-mail to Yoshihiko Hayashi: