How to Buy Handle & Store

Home / Shrimps & prawns
  • Color should be bright and glowing color and translucent generally with grayish green, pinkish tinge.
  • Colourations also influenced by area of harvest / strain and variety.
  • Meat should be translucent white (avoid pink meat especially with strong odour).
  • Good quality shrimps should be mild ocean flavor (avoid unusual Ammonia or fishy smell).
  • Meat should have firm texture (not spongy).
  • Avoid shrimps with Black spots or Black rings if extended to the meat portion.
  • If you want to cook with Head - avoid buying blackened or reddened head or drooped head.
  • Hold the prawn with one hand and twist the head off with the other.
  • Peel away the body shell and the legs
  • Tail shell can either be left on or gently pulled off as per the recipe.
  • Shrimp gut at the back of the shrimps can be pulled from the front, or cut with sharp knife or use slim knitting hook to pull from the 4 segment.
  • Edible meat is about 50% of whole shrimp body weight.

Few of the Popular shrimps products available in the market in frozen and non-frozen forms (fresh) are HOSO, HLSO, PUD, PD, EZPEEL, COOKED. Frozen seafood is broadly classified as small, medium. Large, jumbo and colossal based on the size.

Frozen shrimp pack size grading Number of pieces/ pound in a pack
Small >  51 pieces
Medium 36 – 50 pieces
Large 26 – 40 pieces
Jumbo 16 – 25 pieces
Colossal < 15 pieces

Before cooking, shrimp needs to be de-frosted under cold running water placed inside the poly bag. Also you can defrost shrimp overnight in the refrigerator. Frozen seafood can also be thawed by immersing the frozen seafood in the bowl of cold water.

Shrimps

Fresh shrimp shell peeled except tail

Shrimps

Frozen shrimp peel and individually frozen - IQF

Shrimps

Frozen easyPeel

Shrimps

Frozen Head On shrimp in shatter pack

Shrimps

Frozen block

Fresh seafood can be kept in the coldest part of the fridge with ice surrounding the seafood for used within 2 days. Frozen seafood can be stored in the home freezers for a month. Storing the frozen seafood in deep freezers can be up to 6 months. Storage in Frozen cold store can be up to 1 year and above.

Prawn can be cooked along with head if it is fresh, but most of the people prefer to eat with gut removed (may have sand particles). All the types of shrimp turn a pink or reddish colour when cooked. Shrimps cook very quickly on cooking the meat turns from translucent to opaque matter of 2 – 3 minutes. Longer cooking results in tough meat.

How to Peel and devein a Prawn

How to Peel and devein a Prawn

Shrimp firm and fresh

Shrimps

Black spots in shrimps

Shrimps

Discoloured & dehydrated meat

Shrimps

Headless shrimp soft and discoloured

Shrimps

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