甘海老 · アマエビ · amaebi
Amaebi
Amaebi is raw 'sweet shrimp' — served uncooked for a soft, slippery, almost creamy texture and a pronounced sweetness. The heads are often grilled and served alongside.
- Also known as
- sweet shrimp, spot prawn, botan ebi
- Species
- Pandalus eous (Northern / spot prawn)
- Category
- Shrimp & crab (ebi / kani)
- Texture
- soft, slippery — sweet, creamy, delicate
- Peak season
- Dec, Jan, Feb
- Sustainability
- varies — Cold-water wild prawns; status depends on the fishery and gear.
- Mercury
- Not in the FDA consumer table
- Pregnancy
- Avoid (raw)
- Price tier
- $$
Raw, soft, sweet
Amaebi is raw shrimp — cold-water northern or spot prawns served uncooked, when their flesh is soft, faintly slippery and intensely sweet. That sweetness is real chemistry: free amino acids like glycine that cooking would mask.
Don’t skip the heads
At good counters the heads are grilled or deep-fried and served on the side — crisp, briny, and not to be wasted. The larger, prized version is botan ebi.
Amaebi vs ebi
The split is raw vs cooked: amaebi is soft and sweet, ebi is firm and snappy. See amaebi vs ebi.