How to Choose Hokkaido Scallops — Dry vs Wet, Sashimi Grade vs Cooking Grade, and What 2L Really Means
Hokkaido · Sea of Okhotsk How to Choose Hokkaido Scallops Dry vs wet, sashimi grade vs cooking grade, and what 2L really means
Read the box, pick the right grade for the dish, then thaw and sear it so the scallop you paid for is the scallop that reaches the plate.
A good Hokkaido scallop is one of the very few things that can come out of a freezer and still taste like the sea it came from. Sweet, dense, a crust that crackles, a centre that stays just tender.
Another one, from the same kind of freezer at a similar price, hits a hot pan, lets out a puddle and steams itself grey. Through the bag you can't tell the two apart. The good news is that you don't have to guess, because the difference is mostly printed on the box.
By the end of this guide you'll be able to read the box, pick the right grade for the dish, thaw it and sear it. Ten short sections, and the second one matters most.
What you are actually buying
Not a whole shellfish. One muscle, and a name with a history.
What Hong Kong sells as "Hokkaido scallop" or "sashimi scallop" is the adductor muscle: the round, ivory "eye" that holds the two shells shut. On a Japanese box it is the 帆立貝柱. So frozen adductors are what you are buying, not the whole shellfish.
The Japanese scallop, Mizuhopecten (Patinopecten) yessoensis. In Japan it is called hotate.
The adductor only: one muscle, frozen, then packed and graded by size.
HK01's food-decoding column explains it well. In Cantonese usage, the word for this is a borrowed name that strictly belongs to a different shellfish, the pen shell. Hong Kong uses it for the Hokkaido scallop adductor anyway. Dried scallop is a separate product, and this guide isn't about it.
Dry vs wet — the difference you can taste in the pan
This is what decides whether you get a crust, and you can check it before you pay.
Anyone comparing dry scallops vs wet scallops is really asking one question: has water been added? Dry scallops are untreated. Wet scallops have been soaked in water with phosphates, usually sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), so they take up water and hold on to it. Through the bag they can look much the same. In the pan they cook like two different foods.
| Dry (untreated) | Wet (soaked / water added) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Scallop meat and nothing else | Soaked in water with phosphates (usually sodium tripolyphosphate, STPP) so it takes up and holds water |
| What the label says | Ingredients: scallop only | A phosphate / STPP / INS 451 in the ingredients, and under Codex the words "added water" in the product name |
| In the pan | Surface dries, browns, forms a crust | Leaks liquid, steams instead of searing, shrinks more |
| What you pay for | Scallop | Partly water (America's Test Kitchen: soaked scallops picked up about 14% water on average) |
Why a wet scallop won't brown. Browning needs a dry surface. The liquid a soaked scallop leaks keeps the pan too wet, so it steams instead.
Codex CXS 315-2014 is blunt about it. Plain scallop meat may contain no food additives at all. Phosphates are allowed only in a separate category of product with added water. That product must have "added water" in its name, and the added water must be declared on the label.
The United States went a different way, and the history is worth getting right:
The FDA's interim policy used moisture bands: scallops up to 80% moisture could be called "scallops", and 80–84% had to be labelled "X % Water Added Scallop Product".
The FDA withdrew those percentages.
NOAA's inspection programme still presumes that a lot above 83% moisture has been treated, because natural scallops consistently test below that.
America's Test Kitchen put soaked scallops through a proper kitchen test. Here's what they found:
water taken up by the soaked scallops
lost in the pan, soaked vs unsoaked
how they tasted, and very hard to sear
Find the 原材料 / ingredients line. You want scallop and nothing else, for example ほたて or "scallop".
On Japanese packs, phosphates often appear as リン酸塩. In Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety's labelling rules require additives on prepackaged food to be listed by their function plus their name or INS number.
One caution: a Hokkaido origin doesn't settle it. The origin tells you where the scallop grew. The ingredients line is where to look for what was done to it afterwards.
Lobster tails raise the same questions about soaking, phosphates and ice glaze. Our guide to choosing lobster covers them for tails.
Sashimi grade vs cooking grade
Two kinds of label, and one of them is a legal standard, not a description of the taste.
If you're shopping for sashimi grade scallops in Hong Kong, the Japanese label behind that phrase is backed by law. Japan has a legal standard for frozen seafood meant to be eaten raw. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets hygiene limits and rules for the water used in processing. It also requires storage at −15°C or below, and the pack has to say plainly that the contents are for eating raw.
Made and checked to Japan's raw-eating standard. Buy this one for sashimi.
Not made and verified to that standard, so it is labelled for cooking.
What the box of our cooking-grade pack says, next to "Must Be Cooked".
It is about how the scallop was handled and checked. It says nothing about size, sweetness or texture.
You cannot assume a cooking-grade scallop is the same as a sashimi one. And a cooking-grade scallop must be cooked. Never serve it raw, however good it looks.
Sashimi, carpaccio, or a centre you want barely seared.
Fully cooked dishes: seared through, stir-fried, grilled, hotpot. Here cooking grade is the choice that makes sense for the price.
Okhotsk seabed vs hanging rope
Hokkaido raises its scallops in two ways, and the method affects what ends up in the box.
| Method | Where | How it grows | Peak landings | Mostly sold as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
地撒き Seabed-sown |
Sea of Okhotsk, Nemuro Strait | Spat raised about a year, released onto the seabed and grown there unfed for 2–4 years (Okhotsk: harvested at 4 years old, four-plot rotation) | August–September | Frozen adductors and dried adductors |
|
垂下式 Hanging culture |
Funka Bay, Sea of Japan coast | Hung in the sea on ropes or baskets for 1–2 years | March–April | Boiled scallops and shucked meat |
Methods, regions and landing peaks from JF Hokkaido Gyoren. Okhotsk detail from the Hokkaido Research Organization's Abashiri Fisheries Research Institute.
Most frozen adductors come from the first row. On the Okhotsk coast, one cycle looks like this:
The scallops spawn.
Larvae settle on collectors hung in the sea, so the seed is collected naturally.
The young grow in hanging baskets.
They are released onto the open seabed.
The grounds are split into four plots, harvested in rotation at four years old. Nothing is fed.
Japanese packers label Okhotsk scallops 天然, meaning natural. Under Japanese labelling rules, "farmed" means raised by feeding. Scallops grown on the seabed without being fed don't have to carry a farmed label. Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency also says that not counting as farmed does not, on its own, make a product natural. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture calls it a "raise-and-catch" fishery.
So when an Okhotsk box says 天然, read it as grown on the open seabed from naturally collected seed, and not fed. That slow growth is what gives the meat its density.
Season. Okhotsk seabed landings peak in August–September. The season runs from roughly mid-March to the end of November (Sarufutsu, according to Japan's Ministry of Agriculture). Frozen adductors are available all year. A season tells you when the boats are out, not when any particular box was packed.
Size: what 2L and 11/15 actually mean
Japanese boxes count pieces per kilo, American boxes count per pound, and the two get mixed up all the time.
Here is the scallop size chart. Japanese frozen adductor grades count pieces per 1 kg. Each pack is filled to 1 kg using pieces within a weight band, so a grade is always a range, never one exact number.
| Grade | Pieces per 1 kg | About per piece | Pieces per lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2L Our sashimi pack |
16–20 | 50–63 g | 7–9 (i.e. "U10") |
| L | 21–25 | 40–48 g | 9.5–11 |
| M | 26–30 | 33–38 g | 12–14 |
| S | 31–35 | 29–32 g | 14–16 |
| 2S | 36–40 | 25–28 g | 16–18 |
Packer tables (Hamaichi, a Hokkaido packer, and trade listings) agree from 2L to 2S. Smaller grades differ from packer to packer, and there is no national standard table that we could find. Boiled baby scallops use a completely different scale.
American counts work per pound. "U10" means under 10 pieces per lb. And the count printed on our cooking-grade pack works like this:
each, roughly
pieces in a 500 g box, roughly
in Japanese grades, centred on M
So an 11/15 scallop is smaller than a 2L one, whatever the pack is called.
Bigger is not automatically better. Large pieces are the ones for a thick sear with a soft centre. Mid sizes cook through evenly, which is exactly what a fully cooked dish needs.
On a glazed frozen pack, the net weight doesn't include the glaze. That's the Codex rule, and Japan's Measurement Act says the same. So the melted glaze was never part of the weight you paid for: the net weight counts the scallop, not the ice.
What a good pack looks like
Five things to look at before the box goes in your basket.
A thin, even, clear coat of ice. It protects the scallop from drying out and oxidising, melts away when you thaw, and isn't counted in the net weight.
Codex describes deep dehydration as white or yellow patches that hide the colour of the flesh, go below the surface and don't scrape off. The CFS says freezer burn makes food tough, shrivelled, discoloured in spots or covered in ice crystals, and that it affects quality, not safety. Skip packs that show it.
A small share of Okhotsk adductors are orange, about 0.15% in one study, because of a natural carotenoid pigment. A Japanese fisheries study found no significant difference in composition from the white ones, which suggests they taste the same. The colour isn't roe, and the study doesn't link it to the scallop's sex.
The origin. 生食用 or cooking wording. The net weight. Ingredients that list scallop only. And the storage line, 要冷凍, meaning keep frozen.
Keep it frozen at −18°C (CFS). Don't refreeze scallops once they've thawed, unless they were thawed properly in the fridge (CFS).
Thawing without losing the texture
Keep it cold and take it slowly. That's most of what there is to it.
If you have been searching for how to thaw frozen scallops, here are two methods that work and two to avoid.
| Method | How | Roughly how long | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the fridge Our default |
0–4°C, in a colander over a bowl, covered, so the drip and melted glaze drain away | 8–10 hours (plan the night before) | CFS (0–4°C rule); JF Hokkaido Gyoren (colander method and time) |
| Ice + salt bowl | Ice about equal in weight to the scallops, 1 tsp salt per 250 g ice, scallops in, covered. Take them out half-thawed, while the centre is still slightly frozen | 3–5 hours | JF Hokkaido Gyoren (their first recommendation); Souya Fishery Co-op |
| Never | Room temperature, hot water | — | CFS; JF Hokkaido Gyoren (room temperature: a lot of drip, flavour lost) |
Thaw in the fridge at 0–4°C, and never at room temperature or in hot water. The CFS also says running water and microwave thawing are not recommended for food that will be eaten raw. That's why, for a sashimi-grade scallop, the fridge is the default.
The ice-and-salt bowl is Hokkaido's own method. It's how the island's fishery federation, JF Hokkaido Gyoren, recommends thawing scallops for texture. According to the Souya Fishery Co-op, the salt helps stop the scallops going watery and doesn't make them salty. It's their method, shared here for reference. Our default is still the fridge.
Once thawed: pat them dry with kitchen paper, then serve or cook straight away.
Searing it properly
A scallop sear is quick and hot, and it mostly depends on what you did before the pan.
Pat them completely dry. This is the most important step. A wet surface won't form a crust.
Very hot pan, a little oil, and don't crowd them.
Don't move them until a golden crust forms and they release from the pan, then flip.
Roughly 1–3 minutes a side, depending on size. Treat that as a range, not a timer, and go by the crust and the edge.
The US FDA's cue for scallops: flesh milky white or opaque, and firm.
Cook until opaque all the way through. A translucent, barely seared centre is only for a sashimi-grade 生食用 scallop.
And don't let them go too far. Overcooked scallops turn tough and rubbery, so stop as soon as they're opaque and firm.
What we stock, honestly
Two boxes for two different jobs, and a straight answer about the label.
The retail box ends carry a blue 生食用 sticker, marked for eating raw. The box reads: Hokkaido, North Okhotsk · 天然 帆立貝柱 · 要冷凍 −18°C or below.
Grade 2L, in a 1 kg box, so roughly 16–20 pieces. For sashimi, carpaccio, or a thick sear with a soft centre.
The box reads: ほたて adductor · 煮食用 / Must Be Cooked · 要冷凍 · Sea of Okhotsk.
11/15, in a 500 g box, so roughly 12–16 pieces. For dishes seared through, stir-fried, grilled or in hotpot. It must be cooked.
Section 02 is about reading the ingredient line yourself instead of taking a shop's word for it, and that includes our word. Ask us on WhatsApp and we'll show you the box label before you order.
Fresh or live in-shell scallops, roe-on scallops, or Hokkaido dried scallops.
Delivery is free on orders of HK$800 or more. You can also pick up at Chai Wan, Tai Wai or Po Lam. Put the box straight in the freezer when it arrives.
Choose your box, then heat the pan
Tell us the dish and how many are eating, and we'll help you choose the right grade. Thaw it in the fridge overnight, pat it dry, and give the pan a few minutes.
Order the 2L sashimi scallops Order the cooking-grade scallopsOr browse the rest of the cold room: our seafood collection.
References & Resources
This is a culinary buying guide. Labelling standards, grades, production methods, thawing and doneness points come mainly from the primary and authoritative sources below; other sources are named where they are used in the text. Reference titles are shown in their original language. Last reviewed: 2026-09-15.
| # | Source | What it supports |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Codex Alimentarius — Standard for Fresh and Quick Frozen Raw Scallop Products (CXS 315-2014) | Plain scallop meat without food additives; the "added water" category and its naming; glaze excluded from net weight; deep dehydration. |
| 2 | NOAA Fisheries Seafood Inspection Program — Part 4: Policies, Procedures and Requirements for the Inspection of Fisheries Products (Appendix C, Scallop Moisture) | The 1992 FDA moisture bands, their withdrawal in 2004, and the 83% presumption. |
| 3 | 厚生労働省 (Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) — 食発第170号・生食用冷凍鮮魚介類 | Japan's standard for frozen seafood eaten raw: processing water, storage at −15°C or below, labelling. |
| 4 | 北海道ぎょれん (JF Hokkaido Gyoren) — 北海道のほたて | The two growing methods, their regions and their landing peaks. |
| 5 | 北海道ぎょれんコラム — 冷凍ホタテ貝柱の美味しい解凍方法 | The ice-and-salt and fridge thawing methods and times; avoiding room temperature. |
| 6 | 北海道立総合研究機構 網走水産試験場 (Hokkaido Research Organization, Abashiri Fisheries Research Institute) | The Okhotsk cycle: spawning, natural seed collection, release, four-plot rotation, four-year harvest. |
| 7 | 成田正直 et al. — 日本水産学会誌 79(1), 2013 | Orange adductors in Okhotsk scallops: how common they are, the pigment, and composition compared with white ones. |
| 8 | 食物安全中心 Centre for Food Safety — 正確解凍冷藏食品 | Thawing in the fridge at 0–4°C; never at room temperature or in hot water; guidance on food eaten raw. |
| 9 | U.S. FDA — Safe Food Handling | The visual doneness cue for scallops: milky white or opaque, and firm. |
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