Beer Snacks?
While on location for a photo shoot, my editor presented me with a gift simply calling them “beer snacks". He had brought these mystery delicacies over from Toyama, Japan, an area known for some of Japan's best rice. The rice, combined with great water from Mount Tate, means of course, that Toyama has great sake. But I digress… Of the two packages he gave me, one contained dried white shrimp, again, famous and from the region. And the other package had dried firefly squid (aka sparkling enope squid), another local delicacy with a national reputation.
These tiny squid (3” at maturity) have bioluminescent photophores that emit light, hence the name "firefly squid". Both the shrimp and the squid are great raw or cooked. Firefly squid are in season from March until around May. So if you visit Japan during that time, many places that serve Japanese food and or seafood will have them on their seasonal menu. I have to confess though that I’ve never had them dried before. The mummified creatures are good, but, for some, perhaps an acquired taste. The consistency of the squid is soft except for one teensy bit, not sure if it’s the beak or the eye-ball, but I’m choosing not to dwell on the hard bit. Beer snacks anyone?