Chirimen (ちりめん) or Shirasu boshi (しらす干し) or Myeolchi (멸치) dried small (baby) anchovy fish is very popular. There are so many dishes that can be made using chirimen. To make chirimen, the size of anchovy should be 1.5 cm to 3 cm. Due to the popularity, in some countries, the total amount of production is not enough to meet the demand of Chirimen.
PT. Marinal Indoprima is ready to supply with good quality chirimen. The anchovies that we use to make chirimen are very fresh. We immediately put the raw fishes in ice-water as soon as we caught them and start the processing of raw fishes immediately.
The Production Process of Chirimen (sun-dried):
- The raw fishes that were preserved in the ice-water should be washed in the ice-water before boiling.
- Boil the raw anchovies using salted water. This step is important to keep the fishes fresh. The power of fire must be very strong.
- The boiled fishes should be dried quickly. It should be sun-dried. However, if the rain falls, the boiled fishes should be stored in the colds storage. Keeping away the boiled fishes from rain is to ensure the quality of our dried chirimen. Cutting the water of boiled fishes is important before storing it in the cold storage. We keep it -7°C in cold storage. As soon as the rain stops, we remove the boiled fishes from cold storage to be sun-dried.
- The boiled fish should be carefully dried and turned over to make sure that the fishes are completely dried by sun. The anchovies should not be touched unless they are well dried. This is important to ensure the good quality of our chirimen. When you grasp the anchovies, you feel the hardness but when you bend the fish with your finger, the fish will bend.
- Pack the fishes using the standard packing of chirimen. After that, the chirimen goes to the cold storage.
The Production Process of Chirimen (machine-dried):
- Wet anchovies that arrive at our factory are washed to remove the impurities.
- Clean and wet anchovies are boiled in salt water with temperature of 100°C.
- The fishes are put in the drying room to be dried.
- Dried anchovies are put in the cold storage.
- The first selection process is done to separate chirimen and non-chirimen.
- Sizing of chirimen is done to separate the fishes based on the sizes.
- The second selection process is done to remove foreign matter.
- Metal detecting procedure is carried to remove metal materials.
- The chirimen is ready for packing and put in the cold storage.