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Ama Ebi (Sweet Shrimp) Sushi

Sweet Shrimp

Shrimp & Mantis Shrimp
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Sweet ShrimpSushi

Decapoda, Pandalidae

Its official name is the northern shrimp, a slim shrimp about 10 to 13 centimeters long that lives in the North Pacific. Its body color is an orange with a strong, translucent reddish tint, and it is said to have come to be called "sweet shrimp" because of its sticky sweetness.

Sweet shrimp is the standard Japanese name northern shrimp, which lives on the deep-sea floor at depths of 200 to 1,000 m in the North Pacific, and in Japan it is caught in Hokkaido, Niigata, Ishikawa, and Hyogo prefectures. It is about 10 to 13 centimeters long, with a more slender and slim body than other shrimp of the genus Pandalus, and even while alive it is a translucent orange or pink with a strong reddish tint. Because the domestic northern shrimp is a luxury ingredient, at conveyor-belt sushi and the like the inexpensive frozen Atlantic northern shrimp imported from Norway, Iceland, and elsewhere is mainly used. Also, the jinken shrimp caught around Numazu City in Shizuoka Prefecture is sometimes called sweet shrimp, mainly locally. The northern shrimp is said to have come to be called "sweet shrimp" because it has a sticky sweetness when eaten raw, but the sweetness becomes stronger and a melting texture is produced when amino acids are generated as time passes after death rather than while it is alive.

How to enjoy sweet shrimp

Sweet shrimp is said to be delicious even in miso soup, but as a sushi topping it is generally served raw as nigiri without heating, in order to enjoy its melting sweetness. During the spawning season, individuals carrying eggs are caught, as with botan shrimp and other shrimp of the suborder Pleocyemata, and they are sometimes made into nigiri sushi together with the eggs. Sweet shrimp eaten together with the popping texture of the eggs offers a flavor different from nigiri without eggs.
Sweet shrimp sushi of the true northern shrimp Sweet shrimp sushi of the true northern shrimp

The difference between "ebi" written two ways

There are two kanji for shrimp, "ebi" meaning sea-dweller and "ebi" meaning swimmer, and these are used differently according to ecology. The first "ebi" refers to the crawling type of shrimp that crawl along the seafloor, such as the Japanese spiny lobster and the lobster.
Meanwhile, the second "ebi," as can be seen from the fact that it was originally a different kanji, is used for the swimming type of shrimp.
However, they are not strictly distinguished, and because the first "ebi" is generally more well known than the second, although the sweet shrimp and botan shrimp are originally the swimming type, they are often written with the crawling-type kanji as "ama-ebi" and "botan-ebi."

There are two kanji for shrimp, "ebi" meaning sea-dweller and "ebi" meaning swimmer, and these are used differently according to ecology. The first "ebi" refers to the crawling type of shrimp that crawl along the seafloor, such as the Japanese spiny lobster and the lobster.
Meanwhile, the second "ebi," as can be seen from the fact that it was originally a different kanji, is used for the swimming type of shrimp.
However, they are not strictly distinguished, and because the first "ebi" is generally more well known than the second, although the sweet shrimp and botan shrimp are originally the swimming type, they are often written with the crawling-type kanji as "ama-ebi" and "botan-ebi."

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