| OCTOPUS | SHRIMP | SQUID |
| SHELLFISH | FIN FISH | FILLETS/LOINS |
| SPECIALTY ITEMS |
'TAISHIN' MADAKO
 |
 CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO VIEW LARGER IMAGE |
The Japanese word madako means “true” octopus. The initial use of the word referred to the species, Octopus vulgare Cuvier, which is caught around the islands of Japan. Catch of this species is very little and almost all goes to local Japanese gourmet restaurants at very high prices. The Japanese also refer to imported octopus from Africa, Octopus vulgaris Lamarck, as madako. The majority of madako is this species which is imported in large raw frozen quantites from Africa (Morocco, Mauratania, Senegal, South Africa, etc.) by large Japanese trading firms and sold to small processors in Japan who cook and distribute the product. The Japanese processors have also located Octopus vulgaris in areas along the China coast and buy this product landed live and process it.
Since the Japanese trading companies will take positions on large inventories of raw materials, seasonality is not essential in market conditions. New contract buying periods in June in Morocco may set the tone for pricing ideas for the remainder of the year. But fierce trading battles between buyers, producers and the producing companies’ governments have kept pricing and supply unpredictable for the past few years. Strong seasonal demands for the year end holidays in Japan and the U.S. have also heavily influenced pricing and availability.
The product is typically cooked whole with guts, eyes and beak out and stored in styrofoam cases. These cases are either 11 lb or 22 lb and often if the 11 lb case is used, two cases will be bundled together for a 22 lb master. Size grading is count per case. Since packers are not consistent with the size case they use, a 5 count, for instance, can be 2.2 lb average or a 4.4 lb average, depending on whether it is a 22 lb case or an 11 lb case. Very large sizes (e.g. 2, 3, 4, 5 counts per 22 lbs) are not very common. The bulk of the production is in the 4-5, 6-7, 8-12 cts/11 lbs. Pricing is almost always higher for larger sizes.
Larger sizes of madako are used for sashimi and for nigiri sushi. Smaller sizes are used for various salads including Hawaiian style tako poke.
Madako packers use various additives to improve the texture and color of madako. Most of these are salts or citric acids. The cooked color of madako skin is deep red to pink, the meat is white and the texture is firm and not too chewy.
#2 madako is sometimes available. The #2 madako which Union Fish Company imports is most often simply downgraded for skin blemishes or tears and/or missing, broken or deformed legs. This makes the product ideal for use in salads, cocktails or pokes.
Further processed octopus
products from Japan tend to be priced too high for the export market
because of the high price of labor in Japan. Pre-cut cooked
octopus products are available from other suppliers and origins.