Surimi is a refined paste of minced white fish — the mild, springy, protein-rich base from which imitation crab sticks, Japanese kamaboko and fish balls are made. It is not a single species but a processed intermediate: lean fish (most often Alaska pollock) is filleted, minced, repeatedly washed to strip away fat, blood and odour until only the white muscle protein remains, then blended with sugar and other cryoprotectants and frozen into blocks. Reheated with salt, starch, egg white and flavourings and set by cooking, that protein forms a smooth, resilient, faintly sweet-savoury gel with a clean marine taste and a signature bouncy, sliceable bite. Dyed and shaped, it becomes the ubiquitous red-and-white "crab stick" (kani-kama) of sushi rolls and seafood salads; formed and steamed, it is the kamaboko, chikuwa and satsuma-age of Japanese cooking and the fish cakes and fish balls eaten across East and Southeast Asia.