Surimi

Surimi, meaning ground meat in Japanese, is a Japanese fish product made by grinding the meat of gutted, filleted, and cleaned fish to a smooth paste, which is then treated with cryoprotectants before it is frozen. A staple of traditional Asian cuisine, this product is distinguished by an absence of scent and creamy white color, and it is commonly prepared with the flesh of fish such as Alaska pollock, threadfin bream, blue hake, blue whiting, jack mackerel, and sardine.

The fish paste used to be traditionally made by hand, but the method of freezing the paste has given rise to the industrialized version. Although Japan has been considered the leading country of surimi production worldwide, these days this versatile fish paste is widely produced in many other countries around the world, including Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, China, New Zealand, and the US.