Malaysia’s Golden Fresh was true to its name during last month’s Seafood Excellence Awards competition in Brussels, Belgium, where it struck gold for its fresh product innovation – Kuro Prawns.
The product – which was conceived by Chef Garry Edson on behalf of Golden Fresh and which won the innovation award in the Seafood Expo Global competition in April 2017 – features Argentine prawns coated in a charcoal bamboo crust, and was inspired predominantly by Japanese and Asian cuisine, explained Golden Fresh Manager of Business Development Tang Cho Sun.
“The bamboo ingredient has been around in Asia for quite a while. Any ingredient that is bamboo is considered to be a healthy ingredient,” Cho Sun told SeafoodSource.
Crafted for foodservice establishments, which can utilize the Kuro Prawns as a bar snack or an appetizer, the product already has orders in from Australia and the United Kingdom, said Golden Fresh Senior Commercial Manager Rosy Ng. Inquiries from Canada, the United States and Japan are also cropping up for Kuro Prawns, said Ng, with some customers looking to highlight the product in their upcoming Halloween 2017 promotions.
“It’s a Japanese-inspired kind of concept. And the Japanese are already looking to use this product for promotions during Halloween,” said Cho Sun. “The Halloween promotions in Japan are a big thing – they’re month-long promotions. It’s bigger than Christmas.”
The creation process for the product encouraged the Golden Fresh team to opt for large Argentine prawns.
“The Argentine prawn has a very good blend with the charcoal bamboo,” Cho Sun said. “We tried the coating on vannamei shrimp, but it did not taste as good as it does on the Argentine prawn.”
Given a scenario where Argentine red prawn supply suffers a shortage, the company will continue to produce Kuro Prawns using the pink prawn, according to Cho Sun and Ng.
The product is considered predominantly allergen-free, as it is not prepared with eggs or nuts. It was featured at the 2017 Seafood Expo Global / Seafood Processing Global event in Brussels, Belgium from 25 to 27 April.
