What is sushi made of?
Sushi is made of vinegared rice combined with other ingredients, most often raw or cooked fish and seafood, vegetables and seaweed. The rice, not raw fish, is what makes it sushi.
Sushi rice is short-grain Japanese rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Common toppings and fillings include tuna, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, eel, octopus, egg omelet, cucumber and avocado. Sheets of dried seaweed called nori are used to wrap rolls.
There are several main types. Nigiri is a hand-pressed mound of rice topped with a slice of fish. Maki are rolls wrapped in nori and cut into pieces. Temaki are cone-shaped hand rolls. Sashimi, thin slices of raw fish served without rice, is often served alongside sushi but is not technically sushi.
Served with
Sushi is usually eaten with soy sauce, wasabi, a spicy green paste, and pickled ginger called gari, which cleanses the palate between pieces. Much of the wasabi served outside Japan is actually horseradish colored green, because real wasabi is expensive and hard to grow.
Did You Know?
The California roll, with crab, avocado and cucumber, was created in North America, likely in the 1960s or 1970s, and has rice on the outside.