Hakodate-based Odajima Suisan Foods has produced its first ‘shiokara’ (salt-picked seafood) pickled in sake barrels made from the wood of ‘southern Hokkaido cedar,’ a tree native to the region. The resulting product has a beautiful cherry-blossom pink color, and company CEO Odajima Takashi says, “We hope to continue using the wood in future.”
　
Until now, the company, which has been in business for over 100 years, has used barrels made from Akita cedar. The southern-Hokkaido-cedar barrels (approx. 36 liters) were used to pickle approximately 30 kg of shiokara for one week from June 15.
　
According to Odajima, the surface of the shiokara that comes into contact with air usually turns whitish, but this time it turned a cherry-pink color. “The contents of the cedar may have had an effect. It is an interesting phenomenon,” he said happily. A faint scent of cedar is also said to remain. The shiokara is sold at the company’s factory shop for 760 yen for a 130-g pack.