crab stick

{{Short description|Type of seafood made of starch and finely pulverized white fish}}

{{Infobox food

| name = Crab stick

| image = Kanikama.jpg

| caption = Crab sticks – imitation crab meat surimi.

| alternate_name = imitation crab meat, seafood sticks, krab

| course =

| served =

| country = Japan

| region =

| main_ingredient = white fish

| variations =

| calories =

| other =

}}

Crab sticks, krab sticks, snow legs, imitation crab meat, or seafood sticks are a Japanese seafood product made of surimi (pulverized white fish) and starch, then shaped and cured to resemble the leg meat of snow crab or Japanese spider crab.{{cite journal|last=Laura |first=Campo-Deano |author2=Clara Tovar |title=The effect of egg albumen on the viscoelasticity of crab sticks made from Alaska Pollock and Pacific Whiting surimi |journal=Food Hydrocolloids |date=October 2009 |volume=23 |issue=7 |pages=1641–1646 |doi=10.1016/j.foodhyd.2009.03.013 }} It is a product that uses fish meat to imitate shellfish meat.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In Japanese, it is called {{nihongo|kanikama|カニカマ}}, a portmanteau of kani ("crab") and kamaboko ("fish cake").

History

{{multiple image|perrow=1

| align = left

| image1 = Japanese Sugiyo Kanikama Kaoribako1.JPG

| total_width=250

| caption1 =

| image2 = Japanese Sugiyo Kanikama Kaoribako2.JPG

| caption2 =

| footer = Kaoribako, a high grade imitation crab from {{ill|Sugiyo|ja|スギヨ}}, the first company to make crab sticks

}}

The Japanese company {{ill|Sugiyo|ja|スギヨ}} first produced and patented imitation crab flesh in 1974, as kanikama. This was a flake type. In 1975, the company Osaki Suisan first produced and patented imitation crab sticks.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In 1977, The Berelson Company of San Francisco, California, US, working with Sugiyo, introduced them internationally. Kanikama is still their common name in Japan, but internationally they are marketed under names including Krab Sticks, Ocean Sticks, Sea Legs and Imitation Crab Sticks. Legal restrictions now prevent them from being marketed as "Crab Sticks" in many places, as they usually do not have crab flesh.{{Cite web |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116598098674148620 |title= What's in a Name: Crabless Crab Legs No Longer Imitation |work= Wall Street Journal |date= December 14, 2023 |access-date= August 31, 2010 |archive-date= March 16, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160316152037/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116598098674148620 |url-status= live }}{{subscription required}}

Composition

File:ローソンのカニカマ (31075798748).jpg

Most crab sticks today are made from Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) of the North Pacific Ocean.{{Cite journal|last=Mansfield|first=Becky|date=April 2003|title='Imitation crab' and the material culture of commodity production|journal=Cultural Geographies|volume=10|issue=2|pages=176–195|doi=10.1191/1474474003eu261oa|issn=1474-4740|doi-access=free|bibcode=2003CuGeo..10..176M }} This main ingredient is often mixed with fillers, such as wheat, and egg white (albumen), or other binding ingredient, such as the enzyme transglutaminase.{{cite web |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/eating-drinking/mystery-science-eater |title=Mystery science eater – Time Out New York |publisher=Newyork.timeout.com |author=Gritzer, Daniel |date=July 22, 2008 |access-date=January 27, 2017 |archive-date=August 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814071230/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/eating-drinking/mystery-science-eater |url-status=dead }} Crab flavoring is added (natural or more commonly, artificial) and a layer of red food coloring is applied to the outside.

Uses

Crab sticks are used in sushi, salads, fried in tempura, and many other dishes.

HSY- Sushi, Imitation Crab.jpg|As sushi

Salad with seafood replacement.jpg|As salad

Flickr - cyclonebill - Nudler med surimi, forårsløg og sesam.jpg|With noodles

丸亀製麺(明太釜玉うどん，かしわ天，カニカマ天，かぼちゃ天) 20210930.jpg|Fried as tempura

まほろばのカニカマとキュウリのポテトサラダ WB.jpg|Mixed in potato salad

Salmon rice roll.JPG|Wrapped in rice paper

crab stick

History

Composition

Uses

See also

References

Further reading