赤身 · アカミ · akami
Akami
Akami is the lean, deep-red back muscle of tuna — the most traditional cut, all clean iron and umami, and the one with the most mercury per bite.
- Also known as
- lean tuna, maguro
- Species
- Thunnus orientalis (Bluefin tuna (lean cut))
- Category
- Red-flesh fish (akami)
- Texture
- firm, meaty — clean iron, umami, lean
- Peak season
- Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
- Sustainability
- red — Usually bluefin — heavily overfished. Pole-and-line yellowfin is a cleaner choice.
- Mercury
- 0.69 ppm (FDA mean)
- Pregnancy
- Eat in moderation
- Price tier
- $$
The connoisseur’s cut
Akami is the lean, deep-red muscle from the back of the tuna — the most traditional and, to many purists, the truest expression of maguro. Where toro seduces with fat, akami delivers clean iron, umami and a firm, meaty bite.
Zuke: how akami was always eaten
Before refrigeration, akami was cured in soy (zuke) to preserve it and concentrate its flavor. Many serious counters still serve zuke akami for its deeper, rounder umami — history you can taste.
Mercury and sourcing
Counterintuitively, akami carries more mercury than fatty toro — mercury binds to muscle, not fat. Most akami at sushi counters is bluefin, which Seafood Watch rates red (avoid). Compare all three cuts of tuna.
Related neta
Chutoro
Chutoro is the medium-fatty cut between lean akami and rich otoro — marbled like good beef but balanced, and for many the best-value sweet spot of the tuna.
大トロ otoroOtoro
Otoro is the fattiest cut of the tuna belly — densely marbled, pale pink, and rich enough to dissolve on the tongue. The prized luxury slice of edomae sushi.
鮪 maguroMaguro
Maguro is tuna — the emblem of edomae sushi. At a serious counter it means bluefin, graded by fat from lean akami to rich otoro, and it carries real mercury and sustainability baggage.