Ingredient Spotlight: Tobiko (Flying Fish Roe)

Tobiko, or "poor man's caviar," is the roe of the flying fish. It is a popular sushi ingredient, usually served sprinkled on top of maki sushi rolls or on its own. The eggs are very small, smaller than salmon roe or masago. They often come in various colors; what's the deal?

In its natural form, tobiko is bright orange. But when infused with certain flavors, the colors change. The most common colors/flavors are:

• Green (wasabi)
• Red (Beet)
• Black (Squid Ink)

Tobiko is hardy and can hold up to processing better than more fragile fish roes such as sturgeon and salmon, so this makes it cheaper. More fragile fish roes have to be separated by hand; tobiko can be separated in a centrifuge. It can survive being frozen much better than other roes. The texture is crunchy, and the taste is a combination of salty and nutty.

I like to put various flavored tobiko in a chirashi bowl.

I purchased my tobiko at Sun Fat Seafood in San Francisco; each small tub was $2.50 each. It can also be purchased online at Catalina Offshore.

(Images: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (9)

That bowl looks DELISH. *drools*

I *love* the wasabi tobiko! It is so strange and exciting!

YUM I need to get my hands on some!

I remember tasting it years ago and thinking it was like salty pop-rocks.

in boston we have an amazing sushi place called ma soba. they're ridiculous. they have some incredible menu items and there are three necessities when going there. salmon sashimi, flying fish roe, and eel. if you're still hungry the crunch roll is tasty, too :)

i definitely prefer flying fish roe to salmon. the texture is the best part. i think heartmignardise got it perfectly with salty pop rocks - well done!

Oh man, this post just made me so happy. And never knew beet juice was the culprit for the red colored ones! Would not have guessed that one at all.

ewww. Call me weird but I hate this stuff. I even try to scrape it off if my sushi is covered with it. Gross.

I LOOOOVE the green kind. yum yum!

I loooove Tobiko but I still haven't quite developed the palate for caviar.

Especially the large, pea sized caviar... I feel like I am eating frog eggs, and get grossed out. Which is ridiculous when you think about it, because either way I am still eating EGGS, but for some reason the frog egg mental image grosses me out.