Iburi Jio Cherry Smoked Salt
Iburi Jio Cherry smoked sea salt displays a beautiful beige color and its aroma and flavor are distinctively smoky. The base of this smoked salt is premium quality sea salt that is made from labor and time-intensive production processes - collecting unpolluted, deep sea water from off shore of the Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture in northern Japan, and slowly crystallizing the salt in a large pot over a wood burning fire for three days.
The resulting sea salt is rich in minerals - magnesium, calcium and potassium, thus its flavor is complex and round. Iburi-Jio Cherry is perfect as condiment to accompany such traditional Japanese fare as tempura, sashimi and grilled seafood, chicken and meat dishes. Adding it to soups, braised or simmered dishes both in Japanese and Western preparations requiring salt surely adds unique flavor to those dishes. American style barbecue meat preparations are ideal for using Iburi-Jio Cherry.
buri-Jio Cherry is a relatively new product. Its production began in 2002 inspired by the Akita Prefecture's famed iburi-gakko, a smoked and pickled daikon radish.
The Iburi smoking technique has been an important method for preserving the local crop of daikon radishes for consumption during the long, cold winters of the region. Traditionally the locals have hung as many daikondaikon is then pickled in salt and rice bran mixture to complete the preservation process. radishes as possible from the ceiling above the hearth in each home. After weeks of exposure to the smoke, the wonderfully aromatic
To produce Iburi-Jio Cherry the salt is smoked with roasting pure cherry wood, with neither additives nor chemical treatments of any kind applied to the salt. The excellent flavor of the sea salt only acquires its fragrant smoky flavor and aroma only from the cherry wood.
Our Iburi-Jio Cherry finishing salt is family run operation in the Oga Peninsula on the northern part of Honshu, the main Japanese island. The Oga Peninsula is famous for the Namahage Festival, honoring the ancient Japanese deity Namahage, represented as terrifying demon.
On New Year's Eve, a group of 2 to 3 village youths disguised as namahage, wearing large masks, straw raincoats and waist-bands, holding wooden cooking knives, go around visiting the village homes at night, dancing around as they shout: "Any children crying? Any lazy daughters-in-law in this house?" They are met by the head of the family and are offered saké and rice cakes. Confirming that the family is a happy one, the namahage bless them with good health, good crops and prosperous business.
This wonderful smoked salt comes from people who are sincere, hard working and respect their unique, long-surviving culture.
