Bizarre wood ear fruit jams and sea cucumber dessert at Food Japan 2016

If you're mad about Japanese food or in the food and beverage business, you are likely to be captivated by this exhibition showcasing products from nearly every corner of Japan.

Represented at the annual Food Japan show at Suntec City Convention Centre are 300 exhibitors offering a collective guide to the wide-ranging specialties from 40 prefectures.

Although it is mainly a trade exhibition (Oct 27 - 28), it is open to the public on Saturday (Oct 29 - till 4.30pm). Just like in big Japanese food fairs for consumers, you're likely to chance upon surprising products such as common foods with a quirky twist.

If you're thinking of heading down to Food Japan, here are some of the more interesting items to look out for:

Fruit jams with wood ears
Allergic to marine-based collagen? Then the fruit-flavoured jams from Kumamoto will solve your problem.

Softened white fungus, a common item in Chinese herbal soups and traditional desserts, adds body and texture to the breakfast spreads from Ayumi Rose company. The pomelo and fig jams make great yoghurt toppings too.

Sea cucumber in desserts, soaps
Move over konnyaku jelly as the famed sea cucumber from Noto sea worms in.

Another item for those fixated with taut young skin and healthy bones, the milky pudding dessert is thickened with the melted sea slug with no trace of fishy smells.

The internal organs are blended with salted salmon roe in a topping for cooked rice. The sea cucumber also turns up in soaps. And not surprisingly, in rice porridge, almost like how the Chinese would cook it in a soup. The items from Ishikawa are carried by Oone Otomatsu Shoten.

Grow organic veggies inside your home
Sophisticated hydroponic farming is possible inside your house with this portable culture unit that has LED lighting simulating natural sunlight, temperature and humidity controls.

Enjoy your lettuce in three weeks while admiring the unit as an ornamental display. Agri-Light Lab's VegeLEDS unit from Yamaguchi will cost around 40,000 yen (S$532) when it's launched in Japan next year.

Halal wagyu, ramen, anyone?
Responding to demand from the growing Muslim market, premium Japanese beef produced according to Islamic laws is now available.

Also shown at the fair are collagen-rich stocks made from chicken at Ayam-ya and miso paste with no alcoholic ingredients from Marukome.

Tomorrow at 12.15pm (Oct 28), there will be a masterclass demonstrating the cooking of halal wagyu beef and pumpkin soup lightly flavoured with miso.

Gold candy
Sprinkling real gold flakes onto food is nothing new, but this old-school candy drop from the ancient city of Nara makes you wonder how maker Ogontoh managed to produce such a resplendent-looking confection with only sugar and sugar syrup.

Tenobe ramen with floral ingredient
You won't expect these gorgeous Chinese-style noodles from Okayama to have its yellow hue from gardenia flowers. Made with no lye water, the slightly chewy noodles are served in hot soup. A thinner version is made for a cold treat or a chilled salad.

Welcome to 'Knife City"
True-blue Japanese chefs all know that top-quality handcrafted cooking knives come from Sakai city in Osaka. Many international cooks may not be aware that even the ones that they obtain from a reputable Kyoto shop get their supplies from there.

At the fair is a dazzling range of Yoshihiro knives, from small ones for cutting fruit to hefty choppers.

Demon slasher
Inspired by the legendary Onikiri or 'demon killer' sword, which was used to sever an arm of a fiend in Kyoto during the Heian period, Nihontouken company in Niigata has come up with a range of kitchen knives.

A secret behind the umami taste
The umami buzzword which has been a huge trend in the culinary world continues to pique the interest of cooks seeking unknown ingredients that give that heavenly savoury taste.

Marukome, a popular miso paste brand, has revealed the secrets of restaurants to the public with two food marinades made with fermented rice and/or soy beans called 'koji'.

The one blended with salt is meant to draw out the umami flavour, while the version with soy sauce is aimed at enhancing that addictive taste. The brand also offers miso paste with no MSG and halal miso.

Healthy, savoury twists in traditional sweets
Traditional sweet shop Fukuido in Okayama evolves with the times with the introduction of western-style pastries after it began all the way back in 1871.

Royal jelly and low-calorie soybean flour go into creations by chef Adam Christopher MacDonald who fashions them into shapes of pandas and princess dolls and tucks savoury foods into choux puffs.

Want to be a ramen chef?
A 15-day intensive course is available at Tokyo Ramen Academy. The instructors are renowned names from Japanese noodle restaurants. Male participants can stay in their dormitory for free.

The academy will foot half the bill for female students staying at two hotels near the academy. More details at www.syoku-doujyou.com

Note: For trade visitors on Oct 27 - 28, the admission charge is $20. For the public on Saturday, the fee is $4.
chenj@sph.com.sg

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