Tawashi Scrub Brush

In a sushi kitchen, a firm-bristled scrub brush is a real necessity. A tawashi works efficiently and thoroughly for removing sticky rice from the inside surface of a wooden sushi tub, from a sushi paddle, from a bamboo rolling mat, and from anything in the kitchen to which the rice has stuck.

Japanese households, and later factories, made tawashi from rice straw or hemp until 1907, when the Nishio Company of Tokyo introduced a tawashi made from the fibers of the coconut palm. No other brush could, or can, compare. Called a Kamenoko (“child of the turtle”) tawashi for its resemblance to a small turtle, the coconut fiber brush has more strength, durability, and water resistance than any other kitchen brush I know of. It certainly beats any plastic brush.