Seafood ── Shellfish and cephalopods
Hotate
the scallop whose one strong muscle powers it across the seabed
A bivalve that swims by clapping its shell with a single strong adductor muscle, jetting water to move. That muscle stays plump and sweet whether raw, grilled, or fried, mainly farmed in Hokkaido and Tohoku.
- Shellfish
Lineage
What it's made of
A bivalve that claps its shell open and shut with a single strong muscle, jetting water forcefully to swim across the seabed. That muscle stays firm and richly sweet whether raw or cooked, plump and springy raw, and versatile enough to go from sashimi to grilling to frying without losing its texture; even the roe-colored gonad and white testis are eaten whole, and the frilled mantle edge gets simmered or stir-fried.
How it's made
Spat are pierced at the shell's hinge edge, the "ear," and hung from ropes to grow suspended in the water column for a few years, the dominant method. In parts of Hokkaido, spat are instead scattered on the seabed to grow to size over several years. Either way, the muscle is said to fill out best as water temperatures drop, from winter into spring, marking its season.
Why it took this shape
Sheltered inlets like Mutsu Bay and Funka Bay, where open-ocean swells rarely reach, are said to offer stable conditions for hanging ropes of scallops. The cold water there nurtures abundant phytoplankton, feeding the muscle a sweetness said to trace back to that food supply.
Before You Go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Roadside stations, direct-sale stands, and marketsHow to enjoy buying food near where it's produced, visiting and shopping at morning markets and fish markets, what to expect at farm stands, and finding local food at roadside stations (michi-no-eki).
- Foods to look for in winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- AkagaiA bivalve whose blood contains hemoglobin, tinting its flesh red. A traditional Edo-style sushi item, with a crisp bite and an iron-tinged flavor; even its frilled mantle edge is eaten, often vinegared.
- AsariA small bivalve familiar from beach clam-digging outings. Once purged of sand, it releases a strong broth in sake-steaming or miso soup, its flesh springy, best filled out just before spring spawning.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known source
- Known source: Hokkaido, Sarufutsu
One of Japan's leading scallop-landing municipalities.
- Known source: Aomori, Mutsu
Mutsu Bay is a major area for hanging-culture scallop farming.