Dried sakura shrimp

Sakura ebi séchées

What it is

They are bioluminescent — the species name lucens points at the light organs running down the body — and they are netted at night in Suruga Bay, the only commercial fishery for them in Japan. The catch is spread to dry on open gravel flats at Yui, which turns whole fields pink for a few days in spring and again in autumn.

In the kitchen

Toast them thirty seconds in a dry pan before use: they go brittle and the aroma lifts sharply. Fold them into a kakiage batter at the last possible moment — left to soak they soften and the whole thing tastes of fish paste.

Goes with

Cabbage Egg Spring onion Rice Soy sauce Daikon Toasted sesame oil Hon-mirin

In season alongside

Abalone Clam Common prawn Surf clam King crab Mantis shrimp

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