[Sca-cooks] Hot weather drink

[Johnna Holloway]

For today's contribution to the silly season from Johnnae

the AP is carrying this story:
Heat got to you? Then drink an eel

Eel drink for Japan's hot summer

TOKYO (AP) — It's the hottest season of the year in Japan, and that 
means it's eel season. So, bottom's up!

A canned drink called "Unagi Nobori," or "Surging Eel," made by Japan 
Tobacco Inc., hit the nation's stores this month just ahead of Japan's 
annual eel-eating season, company spokesman Kazunori Hayashi said Monday.

"It's mainly for men who are exhausted by the summer's heat," Hayashi 
said of the beverage, believed to be the first mass-produced eel drink 
in Japan.

Many Japanese believe eating eel boosts stamina in hot weather.

The fizzy, yellow-colored drink contains extracts from the head and 
bones of eel and five vitamins — A, B1, B2, D and E — contained in the fish.

The Japanese particularly like to eat eel on traditional eel days, which 
fall on July 24 and Aug. 5 this year.

Demand for eel is so high that Japan has been hit by scores of eel fraud 
cases, including a recent high-profile incident in which a government 
ministry publicly scolded two companies for mislabeling eel imported 
from China as being domestically grown.

The eel involved in recent scandals was prepared in a popular 
"kaba-yaki" style, in which it is broiled and covered with a sweet 
sauce. The $1.30 drink costs about one-tenth as much as broiled eel, but 
has a similar flavor.

Eel extract is also used in cookies and pies made in Japan's biggest eel 
producing town, Hamamatsu.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iD8hGmf_-339xNsa-hkB_uqZKLcAD926PJK00
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,392183,00.html