September 2012
The main ingredient of all sushi is short grain white or brown rice that is seasoned with brown rice vinegar. There are so many kinds of sushi, too many to enumerate, and new types are being developed as sushi's popularity spreads around the world. Many people think sushi means fish. This is incorrect. The vast majority of sushi is rice and vegetables, but virtually any kind of food can be, and is, included in it. The Japanese name of raw fish is sashimi, not sushi, but commonly they are served together. Maki-sushi, Nori-maki, Nori roll, Temaki, and California roll are some of the names for vinegary rice rolled up in sheets of nori sea vegetable. Another essential ingredient in authentic sushi rice is mirin, a sweet rice cooking wine. Mirin gives sushi rice its pearly sheen and mildly sweet flavor.
Imitation
Lately, many traditional sushi ingredients and seasonings have been replaced with cheap, quickly made imitations laden with refined sugar, chemical dyes, additives, and preservatives. It is wise to avoid these, but this requires some savvy as they are ubiquitous.
EDEN sushi ingredients are all excellent examples of traditionally made, macrobiotic quality foods that embody all the characteristics that made them popular, including optimum flavor, appearance, and texture.
They include:
- EDEN Brown Rice Vinegar
- EDEN Wasabi Powder — Japanese horseradish
- EDEN Shake (furikake) — sesame seaweed condiment
- EDEN Pickled Ginger Slices
- EDEN Pickled Daikon Radish
- EDEN Mirin — rice cooking wine
- EDEN Sushi Nori
- EDEN Soy Sauce — Shoyu — soy sauce
- EDEN Umeboshi Plum
- EDEN Ume Plum Paste
- EDEN Soba — buckwheat noodles
- EDEN Sushi Mat
Sushi is Fun, Satisfying Food
Sushi is great for parties, picnics, lunches, or anytime needing fun food. Most importantly, it is healthy, balanced, good food. Grain with ingredients such as tofu, tempeh, roasted seeds, and seafood provides complete protein. Cooked and raw vegetable fillings offer a variety of flavors, textures, and colors. The use of vinegar and pickled vegetables preserves the sushi and aids digestion, while the nori sea vegetable provides vitamin C and a variety of trace minerals not found in land vegetables. Most types of sushi are made with rice, but it can also be made with soba noodles or leafy green vegetables. Simple or lavish, the variations are endless.
Rated ‘Best Overall’
Sushi requires a little initial practice, but it is truly easy, especially when you follow the step-by-step color photos and instructions in Eden's popular Art of Sushi [PDF] instruction sheet. The Art of Sushi makes rolling your own sushi fun and easy, and includes sushi facts, variations, and suggested fillings.
The EDEN Sushi Gift Basket contains everything needed to create rice, noodle, or vegetable sushi. It was rated “Best Overall” by the staff of the Wall Street Journal and two master sushi chefs. They rated sushi baskets based on products, utensils, and instructions, and said, “The sushi basket from Eden Foods had enough extra elements to provide hours of experimentation.” Furthermore they said, “The kit was impressive, from the sturdy mat to the step-by-step instructions, illustrations with color photos. It's our Best Overall.”
So get rolling! Prepare fun, healthy, good food, and impress your family and friends with sushi making skills.
