Seasonings of Ishikawa

The salt and fish sauce that Noto produced

Ishikawa's seasonings are concentrated on the Noto Peninsula. On land surrounded by sea, two seasonings that come straight out of the water, salt and fish sauce, are still made.

The fish sauces ishiri and ishiru are made by salting squid innards or the flesh of sardine and mackerel and fermenting them for more than a year. In much of the area, the squid version is called ishiri and the sardine version ishiru, and in Noto they are fixed in daily use as all-purpose seasonings. Kanazawa is also active in making shoyu and koji seasonings, including preparations that combine shoyu with koji.

Agehama salt making, and the cultural property listing for ishiru

The agehama method handed down in Suzu involves scattering seawater by hand over sand-covered salt fields, concentrating it in the sun, and then boiling it down in a cauldron. Suzu is described as the only place in the country where this method continues, and the Agehama Salt Making Technique of Noto was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in March 2008. Its 166 implements were made an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property in 1969.

For ishiru and ishiri, the Ishiru and Ishiri Production Technique of Noto is on the national list of Registered Intangible Folk Cultural Properties. When it began is unclear, though it appears to have been made in Noto by the middle of the Edo period. There are also records from the Second World War of ishiru brewed with home-made salt being traded for farm produce as a substitute for shoyu.

Local dishes and their seasonings

Ishiru nabe / kaiyaki (いしる鍋・貝焼き)

A scallop or similar shell is used as the pot, and the ingredients are simmered in a broth seasoned with ishiru. It is served at banquets in Noto, and the aroma of the fish sauce carries the dish.

Kaburazushi (かぶら寿し)

A winter preserved food of Kanazawa, in which yellowtail is set between slices of turnip and pickled in koji to ferment. The sweetness of koji meeting the umami of the fish makes it the dish that best represents Ishikawa's fermentation culture.

Makers in Ishikawa

• Okunoto Endenmura
  Continues agehama salt making in Suzu. It carries on the nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property method of concentrating seawater using sand.
• Kaneishi
  An ishiri maker in Ogi, Noto Town. It brews Noto's squid fish sauce from squid innards.
• Yamato Shoyu MisoFounded in 1911
  A brewery in Ono, Kanazawa. Alongside shoyu and miso, it makes preparations such as shoyu koji, which combines shoyu with koji.