Japanese Abalone Awabi Preparation and Culture

Japan — ama diving tradition from ancient times; Ise-Shima and Mie Prefecture as historical centre; Hokkaido as northern production region

Awabi (鮑, abalone) is Japan's most prized single-shell gastropod and one of the defining luxury seafood ingredients of kaiseki cuisine, tea ceremony offerings, and Shinto ritual. The dominant species are: Ezo awabi (蝦夷鮑, Haliotis discus hannai — from Hokkaido's cold Pacific coast, larger, meatier, darker flesh); and Kuro awabi (黒鮑, Haliotis discus discus — from the Ise, Mie and Chiba coastlines, prized for its sweeter, more delicate flesh and traditionally harvested by ama (女性潜水漁師, female free divers)). The ama of Mie Prefecture, Wakayama, and Ise-Shima are the traditional awabi harvesters, diving to 5–20 metres without breathing apparatus in a tradition documented for over 2,000 years. Awabi preparation requires patience: the adductor muscle is extremely tough if cooked at high heat but becomes silky and tender when cooked very slowly (either steamed for 3–4 hours or simmered covered in sake at 65–70°C for 2–3 hours in a process called sakamusu or sakamushi). Kaiseki awabi preparations: sakamushi awabi (sake-steamed whole abalone, served warm in its own liquid), awabi no sashimi (raw sliced, from freshest live abalone), awabi no liver sauce (kimo-ae, where the raw liver is made into a green sauce for dressed preparations), and awabi no nimono (abalone simmered in dashi-soy). The liver (kimo) is the most intensely flavoured part — a dark green, bitter-sweet organ that is made into kimo-ae or kimo-sauce to dress the sliced meat.

Silky, butter-textured meat with a deep oceanic sweetness, the faint sake perfume of sakamushi — one of the ocean's most concentrated expressions of flavour and texture