In the beginning of the 17th century, the sushi making process involved pressing a piece of fish meat in between layers of salt in order to ferment it. To create the best tasting meat, the creating process used to take months. “Narezushi” is not a type of sushi, but rather a term used to describe this said process. When it came to consumption, what people used to do was to discard the rice before eating the fish meat inside.
Due to the food shortage in Japan during the 19th century, the Narezushi process was forced to transform: People ate the rice alongside the fish meat, because throwing it out would simply be a waste. Because sushi became popular among numbers of people, the fermenting process was shortened significantly. This causes the fish to be more raw, sour, but still safe to eat. As time passed by, experimenters found out that cooking the rice with vinegar can balance our the meat’s sour taste and in the end, the Narezushi process decreased to only one or two days.
Due to the food shortage in Japan during the 19th century, the Narezushi process was forced to transform: People ate the rice alongside the fish meat, because throwing it out would simply be a waste. Because sushi became popular among numbers of people, the fermenting process was shortened significantly. This causes the fish to be more raw, sour, but still safe to eat. As time passed by, experimenters found out that cooking the rice with vinegar can balance our the meat’s sour taste and in the end, the Narezushi process decreased to only one or two days.