After last week’s festivities, we have decided to keep this entry short.
As we mentioned last week, Euglena is a green powder that contains a number of healthful ingredients. In addition to Euglena gracilis, the powder includes organic barley grass, a plant in the parsley family called ashitaba (Angelica keiskei), and chlorella, which is a type of algae. In the version of the powder we tried, there were also lactic acid bacteria added for extra benefit. The powder is rich in vitamin A. vitamin B1, folic acid, vitamin B2, and the list goes on. (See their website for more information: https://www.euglena.jp/en/). Euglena, called midorimushi or “green bug” in Japanese, is a single-celled flagellate that has both animal and plant characteristics. Not only rich in nutrients, Euglena holds promise as a biofuel. We have been eager to sample Euglena for quite some time for a number of reasons. For the sake of brevity, though, we will mention only two here. First, the company that produces it seems, from our perspective, to be enthusiastic and innovative, which is reassuring at a time when there are a number of zombie companies stumbling—or, to remain consistent with the piscine motif here, floundering—through the marketplace. Second, we suspected that by adding a little Euglena to a glass of nihonshu we would be able to produce an ersatz hire-zake (dried fugu [blowfish] fin placed in warm sake). We added Euglena to some nihonshu, and the resulting drink was somewhat similar to hire-zake. Our conclusion: fishiness is fine!
Drinking Japan 