Karasumi
Karasumi ( Japanese 鱲 子 /か ら す み ) is a specialty of Japanese cuisine from the Nagasaki area . Together with Uni ( sea urchin eggs ) and Konowata (cured sea cucumber innards), it is one of the three most famous Japanese delicacies ( Nippon sandai chinmi ).
It is made from salted mullet roe that is sun-dried . Sake is often drunk with it. It is also served as part of kaiseki .
Mullet roe is also eaten on Sardinia in Italy ( Bottarga ) and on Taiwan ( Chinese 烏魚 子 / 乌鱼 子 , Pinyin Wūyúzi ) especially in the city of Donggang .
etymology
The name is said to come from the resemblance to a block of sumi , black ink, which was imported from China ( Kara ) and used in Shodō . However, light colored karasumi blocks are the best quality. The characters used mean "mullet roe" and are jukujikun , d. H. are only read as Karasumi in this combination and context . However, since 鱲 is no longer used today, the simpler Hiragana spelling か ら す み is usually used.