Eel drink for Japan's hot summer

[Fansome]

July 28, 2008

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:01 a.m. ET

TOKYO (AP) -- It's the hottest season of the year in Japan, and that means it's eel season. So, bottom's up!

A canned drink called ''Unagi Nobori,'' or ''Surging Eel,'' made by Japan Tobacco Inc., hit the nation's stores this month just ahead of Japan's annual eel-eating season, company spokesman Kazunori Hayashi said Monday.

''It's mainly for men who are exhausted by the summer's heat,'' Hayashi said of the beverage, believed to be the first mass-produced eel drink in Japan.

Many Japanese believe eating eel boosts stamina in hot weather.

The fizzy, yellow-colored drink contains extracts from the head and bones of eel and five vitamins -- A, B1, B2, D and E -- contained in the fish.

The Japanese particularly like to eat eel on traditional eel days, which fall on July 24 and Aug. 5 this year.

Demand for eel is so high that Japan has been hit by scores of eel fraud cases, including a recent high-profile incident in which a government ministry publicly scolded two companies for mislabeling eel imported from China as being domestically grown.

The eel involved in recent scandals was prepared in a popular ''kaba-yaki'' style, in which it is broiled and covered with a sweet sauce. The $1.30 drink costs about one-tenth as much as broiled eel, but has a similar flavor.

Eel extract is also used in cookies and pies made in Japan's biggest eel producing town, Hamamatsu.

[Lex]

Finally, an explanation for hentai.  I always thought it was something in the water.

[corq]

I like fresh-water eel but to my childhood tastes it still fell into the "tastes like chicken" category.

Though my Mom's cooking made a lot of things taste "just like chicken...." There's no telling what I was really reared on...

That said, the "kaba-yaki" sounds pretty tasty...

[Fansome]

It's actually a pretty mild flavor, and the sweet-teriyaki sauce is mainly what you taste when you eat broiled eel. On rice, it looks very much like old tire treads...

I remember a commercial jingle for this drink, from years ago. It went something like, "It's the Eel Thing...".

[The Radical]

   Actually, my favorite episodes of the original "Iron Chef" series involved the preparation of eel.
But I can almost hear the ad:  "Nothing beats the heat like Eel Cola.  It's refreshing and it's slippery.
It's refreshpery!!!"