Kotaro’s Sushi Kits innovate microwavable trout sushi

Fukuoka, Japan-based Marinet Co. recently developed Kotaro’s Sushi Kits, allowing consumers to purchase a frozen sushi rice and salmon analog that excluxively uses trout.

Marinet Co. Sales Manager Kotaro Harikai told SeafoodSource at the 2023 Seafood Expo Global, taking place 25 to 27 April in Barcelona, Spain, the product is the latest iteration of a project to make high-quality sushi easy to prepare at home.

Harikai also initally created Kotaro's Sushi Rice Balls, which included precooked sushi rice in plastic packaging. After receiving positive feedback on the sliced salmon-style trout products at the 2023 Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., Harikai created sushi kits to store in the freezer that combined his original sliced trout with microwavable rice.

The rice comes seasoned, precooked, and packaged ready to go in the microwave to assemble nigiri-style sushi from home.

Harikai told SeafoodSource his company has survived for more than 20 years in large part due to its longtime partnership with Minhdang Seafood.

For the new trout sushi, Soc Trang, Vietnam-based Minhdang Seafood produces both the fish and rice, packages the product, and distributes freezable trout slices available for retail in locations across Japan, South Korea, and Canada.

“A lot of our [customers] are asking for this [sushi kit],” Minhdang Seafood Vice General Director Luu Nguyen Thinh Tri told SeafoodSource. 

Photo by Bhavana Scalia-Bruce/SeafoodSource