🍱 Heshiko
It is a traditional dish of the Wakasa area and the Echizen coast. The entrails of the fish are removed and pickled in salt, and the fish is then preserved for a long time without spoiling. It was a valuable source of protein for surviving the harsh winters. It has a long history and is said to have already been produced in the middle of the Edo period. There are several theories as to how it came to be called heshiko. One theory is that the word "heshiko" was derived from "heshikomushi," which is an abbreviation of "heshikomushi" when fishermen marinated fish in a barrel, and another that the word "heshiko" was derived from "hishio," the water that came out after fish were pickled in salt. Heshiko is also made from sardines, squid, and pufferfish, but mackerel is the most common. Seafood caught in Wakasa was transported to Kyoto via the "Wakasa Kaido" (Wakasa Highway), which in recent years has come to be known as the "Saba Kaido" because it was used mainly to transport salted mackerel to Kyoto among many other types of seafood. In the Reinan region, "Konuka Iwashi" (pickled sardines) is often eaten, which is mainly made by pickling sardines.