Marumiya Noritama: Various Ways to Use Furikake Seasoning

Today for lunch, I had the instant yaki-udon pictured below, which was a limited-time offer from the leading Japanese instant noodle manufacturer “Myojo (明星)”.

Myojo actually created this instant yaki-udon noodle in collaboration with “Marumiya (丸美屋)”, the leading Japanese food company with the top share in the “Furikake (ふりかけ)” market.

In fact, as you can see in the picture above, the topping of this instant udon dish included a packet of Marumiya’s best-selling Furikake seasoning “Noritama (のりたま)”.

Furikake (ふりかけ)

Incidentally, Furikake is a traditional Japanese seasoning originally meant for rice. Generally, it consists of granules or dry mini flakes processed from various ingredients such as meat, fish, egg, seaweed, and vegetables.

We usually sprinkle Furikake bits on a hot bowl of white rice and enjoy it. But actually, as shown above, the rice condiment can also be used for foods other than rice.

As a matter of fact, some Japanese use the popular Shiso Furikake “Yukari (ゆかり)” in various ways, and as the above Myojo’s product demonstrates, “Noritama (のりたま)” can also be a versatile seasoning.

Marumiya Noritama

Image: marumiya.co.jp

For the unfamiliar, Noritama is the best known and most loved Furikake in Japan. The product was put on the market in 1960 and became a big hit in 1963 mainly because of the anime seal attached as a freebie.

Since then, Marumiya Noritama has been a standard rice seasoning, and even now it holds the largest share in Japan’s Furikake market.

Ingredients

As in its name “Nori (のり)” means the seaweed nori and “Tama (たま)” stands for Tamago or egg, the Marumiya Noritama seasoning mainly consists of dry shreds of nori seaweed and sweet and savory egg granules.

By the way, the other ingredient includes parched sesame seeds, milk sugar, sugar, wheat flour, salt, processed soybean, sweet red bean paste, mackerel flakes, miso, dairy product, extracts (chicken, seafood, kombu, bonito, yeast), seaweed calcium, palm oil, chicken powder, starch, soy sauce, chicken oil, Aosa seaweed, high fructose corn syrup, matcha green tea powder, mirin, yeast, dextrin, reduced starch syrup, and amino acid seasoning.

Uses

As you can see by now, the Marumiya Noritama Furikake has a great combination of the nice aroma of nori shreds and the umami-rich sweetness of egg granules.

For its flavorful umami, as I mentioned above, the seasoning Noritama is sometimes used in dishes other than rice, and in fact, it can make various things including udon more delicious.

So last, for people who are interested in this Furikake, let me share several examples of how to use it.

• Some Japanese like to eat baguette with olive oil and Noritama flakes
• Noritama works well with fried dishes. Just sprinkle the flakes over the food as a finishing touch
• Noritama can also be used in noodles other than udon, such as pasta.
• Some Japanese like to eat curry rice with Noritama flakes.
• Noritama pairs well with mayonnaise, and thus goes well with vegetable salad.