TOKYO: Salmon has become very popular as a sushi topping, with some saying it is even more popular than tuna, and many local brands of salmon and trout are farmed throughout Japan now.

In addition to such local brand salmon, rainbow trout fed with ingredients for “yakuzen” medicinal cuisine, such as dried mandarin orange peel and pine nuts, is gaining popularity as “yakuzen salmon” in the country.

Tokyo-based fishery firm BKTC Co. started shipments of yakuzen salmon last autumn, in cooperation with fish farmers in the northernmost and central prefectures of Hokkaido and Shizuoka, respectively.

Last month, yakuzen salmon began to be sold as a food with functional claims as it contains anserine, which has been shown to lower uric acid levels. This is the first case of salmon being marketed as such.

Yakuzen salmon has been served in restaurants in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, and Yokohama, south of Tokyo. It is also offered at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan.

A yakuzen cuisine restaurant in Tokyo’s Minato Ward plans to add a hot pot dish featuring yakuzen salmon to its menu this summer.

“Basically, salmon is popular, and those farmed in Japan have elegant fat,” an official of the restaurant said. “It (yakuzen salmon) also has a functional appeal, which is another advantage.”

BKTC is now planning to farm yakuzen salmon in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, as well.

It has also received a request from a local brand salmon farmer in the western prefecture of Tottori to share feed for yakuzen salmon.

JIJI Press