Konowata

Konowata is a Japanese delicacy made by salting the intestines of sea cucumbers, a kind of shiokara, the family of fermented salted seafood. It counts among the chinmi, the rare tastes of Japan. The Noto Peninsula, Ise Bay and Mikawa Bay were long known as production centres, though it is now made in many regions including the Seto Inland Sea. The name joins ko, the Japanese word for sea cucumber, with wata, meaning internal organs. After the sea cucumbers are kept in clean seawater to purge their guts, the intestines are pulled out, squeezed free of sand, rinsed in seawater and mixed with a little over ten percent salt by weight, and they are ready to eat in two or three days. It is often served over freshly cooked hot rice, in a small bowl, or stirred into hot sake or soup. Records place it in tribute from Noto Province in the Engishiki of 927 and in gifts and tea meals of later centuries.