Common Orient clam(hamaguri)
Hamaguri are most delectable from early spring into summer. Found in both inshore and offshore beds, inshore hamaguri with their tender, plump flesh are particularly tempting, although in recent years have declined almost to extinction. Cooking hamaguri is a traditional technique specific to Edo-mae Sushi. The Japanese have no custom of eating the clams raw, preferring to simmer them in broth before use. Shelled, blanched, then splayed open, they are marinated in a stock of simmered hamaguri juices to intensify flavor, then made into nigiri and coated with sweet tsume glaze to finish.