Farmed eel that tastes better than natural eel approved by professionals.
Natural eel tastes better than farm-raised eel. Not only eels, but many people may have such an assumption. It is true that only about 3% of all natural eels are sold in the market. This is probably due to its rarity. However, there is a “Taido Shoten” farmed eel in Kagoshima, which is said by eel professionals all over the country to be “better than natural eel”.
Eel is one of the foods that have been familiar to the people since ancient times, and the history of eel farming dates back to the Meiji period (1868-1912), starting in Fukagawa, Tokyo. However, the ecology of the Japanese eel, especially its spawning grounds, has long been a mystery, and only in 2009 was the spawning ground identified as being near the West Mariana Sea territory in the Pacific Ocean, 200 km from Japan. After hatching from eggs and becoming fry, they migrate to the Pacific Ocean, metamorphose into fry, and head for the waters around East Asia.
These fry are called “glass eels,” and in Japan they migrate up rivers in Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Kochi, Shizuoka, and other areas. This is why eel farming began to flourish in Kagoshima Prefecture around 1965. Currently, the prefecture ranks first in Japan in terms of eel production. It accounts for 40% of the domestic share of farmed eels. Among them, Soo County, located on the east side of the Osumi Peninsula, is the top producer in the prefecture. In the scenic countryside of Osaki Town, Soo County, there is Taido Shoten, which is supported by famous eel restaurants nationwide. Taido Shoten is a distributor that delivers the eel it grows to chefs and customers all over the country. In the warehouse, selected and prized eels were waiting to be shipped.
The secret of brand-name eels lies in the groundwater.
The reason why eel farming is prosperous in Shibushi is that eel fry (baby eels) are often caught in the sea around here. In addition, the abundance and cleanness of the water and the climate also have an influence. We have the best environment for raising eels,” said Keiichi Yokoyama, representative of Taido Shoten.
The abundant groundwater is filtered for many years by the Shirasu earth from the Kirishima mountain range. The reason why the eel selected by Taido Shoten is free from any odor or bad taste is because of this water. With safety and security as their motto, they do not use any feed containing antibiotics and carefully select only those eels that have been carefully raised according to their growth.
There have been some brand-name eels in the past, but they were rarely sold directly by the producer or communicated with the chef. But that would mean that even if we produced really good products, they would not be properly evaluated. That’s why I wanted to create a form of sales where I could see the product from start to finish.
There is no reason why eels raised carefully by thoroughly controlling water temperature and water quality 24 hours a day, 365 days a year should not be delicious. It is worth trying Taido Shoten’s eel, which natural eels run away with their tails between their legs.
