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三國屋の海苔づくり
三國屋の味
三國屋では、焼海苔、味付海苔、ばら干し海苔、海苔佃煮の４種類20銘柄を扱い、いずれも自社仕入れ、自社生産をしています。
全国の海苔産地から海苔原料を厳選して仕入れ、銘柄ごとの味や香りに仕立てます。
どの商品でも“美しい色艶と上品な甘み、口の中でほどけていく食感”を味わえます。
三國屋の仕事
日本で収穫され一次加工される海苔は年間約70億枚。その中で三國屋の味筋に見合う海苔原料を仕入れる「目利き」と仕入れた海苔を銘柄ごとに味を分類する「仕分け」、それぞれの個性ある産地ごとに風味を生かす「焼上げ」、複数の原料を調合して煮出して仕上げる調味液の「だし炊き」技術こそが三國屋の味を守る私どもの大切な仕事です。
The Taste of Mikuniya
At Mikuniya, we produce over 20 varieties of nori products stemming from 4 types of Nori; yakinori (toasted seaweed), ajinori (seasoned seaweed) , barahoshinnori (dried seaweed), and seaweed tsukudani, all of which are purchased and produced in-house.
We carefully select and purchase seaweed ingredients from seaweed producing areas nationwide, and tailor them to the taste and aroma of each brand depending on its grade and quality.
You can enjoy “beautiful color and luster, elegant sweetness, and texture that melts in your mouth” with any product.
※Tsukudani, is a japanese traditional salted pickle to preserve various products in the humid Japanese weather
Mikuniya’s work
About 7 billion pieces of seaweed are harvested and processed annually all over Japan. Mikuniya prides the fine judgment, otherwise known as mekiki in Japanese, that takes place at each level of the production process.
Starting from the purchasing of fresh nori, each grade is tasted and tested and sorted to match the high quality product with the processing style to bring out the best flavors. This process is known as shiwake.
After the shiwake, the products are then baked accordingly, adjusting the heating temperature and the time based on the quality of nori to create a rich and unique flavor. This process is known as yakiage.
There is also the process of dashiyaki which is the extraction process of umami flavors from key dashi ingredients, all produced uniquely in Japan, to flavor the nori.
This is the delicate process the Nori goes through in order to produce the rich and unique flavors of Mikuniya Nori.
原料の良し悪しを見極める目利き
自然の産物である海苔は、気候や風土の影響を多分に受けます。産地や摘み取り時期によっても、またその年々によっても質が異なるのが、難しくもあり面白くもあるところです。
海苔の採れる11月から３月にかけて、私たちは全国の海苔産地で開催される乾海苔入札会へ赴き、さまざまな特徴ある海苔の中から、三國屋が求める“美しい色艶と上品な甘み、口の中でほどけていく食感”となる乾海苔を見極め、仕入れます。
~Mekiki~Fine Judgment: Determining the quality of raw materials
Nori, a natural product, is largely influenced by the climate and temperature of the region it is grown in. It is a challenging and fascinating process to manage all the different production schedules of the various production sites all over Japan throughout the year.
November to March is harvesting season for seaweed, and the auctions for these products are held simultaneously nationwide. During the auction season, Mikuniya goes to each one all over Japan, just to taste out the best of the best. In other words, in order to find the nori with the most “beautiful color and luster, elegant sweetness and melting feeling in the mouth.”
銘柄ごとに分類する仕分け
吟味して仕入れてきた海苔は再度、工場で色艶、旨み、香りを仕分けします。同じ等級の海苔でも微妙に違いがあるからです。海苔の色、艶を目視し、口に含み、味、口溶けの良さを確かめること。より品質の高い海苔を選別することが海苔の仕分けであり、豊富な知識と長年の経験が必要とされる技術になります。ここで三國屋の銘柄（超特選、推奨、優上など）に分類されます。
~Shiwake~Sorting by grade
At this point in the production process, the seaweed has been procured after a thorough examination based on the umami, color, texture and aroma. This is because there is a subtle difference among these four factors even with the same grade of nori.Using all five senses, each sheet of nori is manually checked for their quality and is subsequently sorted to the various Mikuniya products. This process has been tried and perfected by over two decades of accumulated knowledge.
産地ごとに海苔質の風味を生かす焼海苔Grilled seaweed that makes the best use of the seaweed flavor in each production area
焼上げ
熟練の焼上職人が、海苔それぞれの性質を見極めて温度調整して焼き上げています。
縮みやすい海苔、焦げやすい海苔などの見極めは経験10年以上の職人であっても難しい仕事です。
最適な焼き加減により、九州の有明海、四国の徳島、愛知三河湾、千葉など、産地によって全く風味が異なる味わいが生まれます。ぜひ食べ比べていただければと思います。
~Yakiage~Baking process
Skilled craftsmen finely adjust the temperature of the process unit adjusting based on grade and texture. It is a task undertaken by craftsmen with over 10 years of experience to identify how the nori reacts to temperature, which changes based on nori humidity and production area. The flavor and texture of the nori product completely changes depending on their production area due to the differences in ecosystem. Some locations include Ariake Sea in Kyushu, Tokushima in Shikoku, and Mikawa Bay in Aichi and Chiba. Once you notice the difference, it opens up another avenue to enjoy the nori tasting experience.
瀬戸内海産干しえびなど厳選素材を煮込んだ秘伝の調味液を使った味付海苔と佃煮海苔Our Ajinori uses a special concocted dashi broth using selected ingredients
such as high quality shrimp from the Setouchi sea
だし炊き
自社で炊き出す味付海苔の調味液は、化学調味料に頼らず、干しえび、昆布、かつお節、味醂、醤油など厳選した材料を調合し丁寧に作っております。優しいながらも奥行きのある味に仕上げた出汁と海苔の風味が調和した味付海苔と佃煮は、三國屋でしか出せない味わいだと自負しております。
~Dashitaki~Dashi flavoring
The dashi, used on our Ajinori is all brewed in house, using a careful mixture of high quality natural ingredients including dried shrimp, kelp dried bonito, mirin and soy sauce. Using the already flavorful taste of the nori, the dashi compliments the flavor in a well rounded manner. A gentle and deep taste that can only be produced by Mikuniya.
All our products are made without chemical seasoning.
干しえび
100％瀬戸内海の赤海老を使用。山口沖で7月から8月のお盆頃までに収穫されて塩茹で乾燥させた干しえびは、甘さと旨味が凝縮されています。
Dried Shrimp
Our broth uses 100% red shrimp from the Seto Inland Sea. The dried shrimp harvested off the coast of Yamaguchi prefecture from July to August is dried in salt, unlocking its sweetness and umami flavors.
昆布
福井の昆布商・奥井海生堂の蔵囲昆布を使用。1〜5年のあいだ蔵でじっくりと寝かされており、昆布が充分に枯れて臭みが取り除かれ、旨味が磨かれた上質な昆布です。
Kombu Kelp
We use kelp from Fukui’s kelp dealer, Okui Kaiseidou. It is a high-quality kelp that has been dried over 1~5 years to condense the rich and deep umami flavors.
多くの料理人に認められる、上質な海苔High-quality seaweed that is recognized by many chefs globally.
全国の海苔産地で開催される乾海苔入札会で仕入れた、ごくわずかな超上質海苔。三國屋の海苔は、寿司職人など多くの料理人に認められ、料亭や寿司店からご愛顧いただいております。ご家庭海苔としても全国のデパートや高級食材店にて販売されています。
The aggregate amount of high quality nori produced all over Japan is highly limited. Despite that, we have been able to produce high quality products that are recognised by sushi chefs and japanese restaurants all over the world. We also sell these high end products at department stores nationwide, expanding globally.
さて、三國屋の海苔は、常に定価で販売をしております。
海苔を育てる生産者、加工販売者、商品をお客様へと手渡す小売店。
志を同じくするもの同士がパートナーシップを結び、互いの共存共栄に努めることが、未来の“おいしい海苔のある食卓”を守ることにつながると考えています。
Despite the heavy fluctuations in prices of the nori products, Mikuniya nori prides itself for selling at a fixed price. We believe that through the years of building trust among producers, honing the mekiki and shiwake skills of the processors, all at a stable price, we are able to gain the trust of our consumers. We as a company strive for mutual coexistence and co-prosperity to help protect the future of a “household with delicious nori”.
