Have you ever eaten sashimi purchased at the supermarket and found drippings (fish blood) seeping out of the daikon pickles that came with it? In fact, the drippings are filled with the flavor of the food.

Technikan’s TOMIN Liquid cryo-freezers, introduced by Koshida Shoten, which we interviewed for this report, are rapid liquid freezers that utilize the power of liquid heat transfer.

You would not get burned if you entered a sauna at 90°C, but you would get burned if you came into contact with hot water at 90°C, wouldn’t you? TOMIN Liquid cryo-freezers utilize the strong heat-trapping power of liquids to freeze food much faster than conventional air-freezers, thus minimizing cellular damage and minimizing drips, which means the food can be frozen and preserved with its flavor locked in!

Koshida Shoten has been using TOMIN rapid liquid-freezing for about five to six years.

＞Mr. Koshida, Executive Director

Before introducing the system, we had a demo machine brought to Toyama and tested it on a variety of ingredients. At that time, we invited local customers to taste freshly caught raw seafood and TOMIN Liquid cryo-freezers without revealing the difference, and the reproducibility was so high that they could not tell the difference.

Seeing the reaction of people who are familiar with the product, we were convinced that we could develop a value-added product. I was convinced that we could develop value-added products.

＞Mr. Koshida, Executive Director

For products shipped to the general public, we use frozen sleep for cold yellowtail, white shrimp, and firefly squid. We store them in TOMIN Liquid Cryo-Freezers during the season when they are freshly landed, thaw them only once, pack them, and ship them nationwide after refreezing them.

>Executive Director Koshida-san.

That’s right! TOMIN Liquid Cryo-Freezers are frozen when freshly caught in season, and the longest ones are stored for up to a year before being thawed and processed. Even so, we receive high praise from local customers, so we are now able to deliver the same flavor as when it is in season throughout the year.

When normally frozen, shiroebi are more damaged and take on a reddish hue. TOMIN Liquid Cryo-Freezers, however, are white and look almost fresh, so they are delicious as sashimi.

Firefly squid is served in an offshore marinade, but the plump, bouncy texture could not be achieved with regular air freezing.

You can really enjoy the taste as if you had just caught it any time of the day.

We also spoke with Mr. Sawaki, a staff member who was born and raised in Toyama and is involved in the processing of white shrimp!

＞Staff Mr. Sawaki

It was clearly different from regular air-frozen ones. I remember being surprised that the texture remained fresh and did not have the sticky feeling characteristic of frozen food.

＞Staff: Mr. Sawaki

Some other companies use machines to peel the shells, but this inevitably damages the meat. At our company, we peel the shells by hand, one by one, in a semi-thawed state, which is the easiest way to peel the shells. Although this requires more time and effort, we hope to deliver as much delicious Toyama seafood to our customers as possible by making use of our TOMIN rapid liquid-freezing technique.

＞Staff: Mr. Sawaki

We also ship the peeled shells to restaurants and inns as toppings for pasta and as a source of soup stock. Before we introduced TOMIN Liquid Cryo-Freezers, we used to throw them away, but now we can use them as well, because we can store them without losing the flavor of the shells.

>Staff Sawaki.

That’s right. If yellowtail trimmings, which were inevitably thrown away in the processing process, are stored in TOMIN rapid liquid-freezing, they can be thawed and shipped only as needed to meet demand. This leads to an expansion of sales channels and also contributes greatly to the reduction of food loss.

We spoke again with Mr. Koshida, the executive director, about his future goals.

＞Mr. Koshida, Executive Director

There are many more marine products that can be caught in Toyama. We are constantly repeating tests and developing products while searching for added value that can be produced only in Toyama. Eventually, we hope to be able to supply all of our products through TOMIN rapid liquid-freezing.

＞Mr. Koshida, Executive Director

The biggest challenge is that there is a limit to the capacity of the amount of TOMIN Liquid Cryo-Freezers that can be produced. As is the case with the shells of white shrimp, manual labor is inevitably required to deliver the best taste.

TOMIN Liquid Cryo-Freezers, however, allow us to take advantage of the unique advantage of being able to deliver the freshly caught taste of the product as it is. In fact, we have customers in Hokkaido, where seafood is abundant, who purchase our products because they want the taste of Toyama.

As we continue to expand demand, we at Koshida Shoten hope to increase our capacity in terms of the number of products we can produce.