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Read for freePeople in many Asian countries love eating seafood, and it’s available in large quantities. It’s therefore no surprise that countries like Japan have found a way to use its protein in various ways.
One of those ways is to create a protein-rich fish paste that can be the basis for a lot of fish cake and stick products.

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Otoshimi vs surimi
Both otoshimi and surimi are fish pastes but surimi is the more well-known of the two. Surimi is a type of otoshimi where the whitefish is cleaned and rinsed with water so much, it has become oder- and flavorless. Otoshimi is the same ground lean fish meat without begin rinsed.
So surimi is a type of otoshimi. It is known around the world because of the imitation crab sticks that are made from it as a base product.
The flavorless protein substance can easily take on any flavor that’s added to the base paste, like fish sauce for kamaboko or crab extract for kanikama, also known as “surimi sticks.”
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Read for freeJoost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.