CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Can the small stones in the yellow croaker be eaten?

Can the small stones in yellow croaker be eaten?

When eating yellow croaker, you will notice two hard stones. These stones are otoliths in the fish skull, also known as "fish brain stones" in traditional Chinese medicine.

Its nature and flavor are sweet, salty and flat. It has the effects of dispelling stones, clearing stranguria and detoxifying. It is generally used to treat stranguria with stones, dysuria, rhinitis, purulent ears and other diseases. It is used to treat rhinitis and sinusitis. The common dose is 10-15 grams. It is usually put into decoction and needs to be decocted first. According to patient feedback, the effect is still good. In fact, fish brain stone can be taken orally as well as externally. Mr. Zhu Liangchun has an empirical prescription for treating chronic sinusitis, which is to use 3 grams of fish brain stone, 0.6 grams of borneol, 12 grams of magnolia, 12 grams of goose not eating grass, and 6 grams of coptis chinensis, grind them into powder, and use a little to smell the nose each time.

In addition, there are documents that fish brain stones can be used to treat various stones, such as kidney stones, gallstones, bladder stones, etc. Fish brain stones are not commonly used medicines, so some pharmacies may not have them. With the decline of yellow croaker resources in recent years, the fish brain stones seen on the market are also mixed. According to surveys, many people use otoliths from Pi's croaker, spiny-headed plum fish, yellow croaker, etc. as otoliths, which are similar in appearance and difficult to distinguish if you are not a professional.

Do you know the secret of the sky-high price of wild yellow croaker?

Chinese people pay attention to auspiciousness on the table, and they must have "fish every year". Yellow croaker, which has fat meat and few bones, is highly praised. As the saying goes, "no yellow croaker, no feast". There can be no bird's nest, abalone, shark's fin or fish maw on the table, as long as there is an authentic yellow croaker, it can be domineering and support the scene!

However, it is not easy to eat wild yellow croaker! Let me tell you why.

Large yellow croaker is also called yellow croaker, and is one of the traditional "four major marine products" (large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, hairtail, and cuttlefish). Li Shizhen wrote in Compendium of Materia Medica: "It lives in the southeastern sea, and its shape is like a white fish, with a flat body and weak bones, fine scales yellow like gold, and two white stones on its head, which are as clear as jade."

Yellow croaker has tender and delicious meat, high protein and low cholesterol. It can treat anemia and nourish the body, making it the best marine fish. Yellow croaker is also rich in trace element selenium, which can remove free radicals produced by human metabolism and delay aging. It is suitable for people with anemia, insomnia, dizziness and loss of appetite.

Due to the comprehensive nutritional value of yellow croaker, the nutrition of one yellow croaker is equivalent to the nutrition of a table of dishes. It is favored by consumers at home and abroad, regarded as a mascot, called "longevity fish", and known as the "national fish".

In the 1950s and 1960s, it was the main economic fish in my country's coastal waters. Wild yellow croaker has a blunt-pointed head, a large mouth, a slender tail, and a golden body. It can be said to be the "number one fish in the sea". The price of a pound or more doubles, comparable to gold.

Small yellow croaker is also called yellow croaker or small yellow flower. It is similar in shape to large yellow croaker, but has a longer head, smaller eyes, larger scales, a short and wide caudal peduncle, and five or six rows of scales from the starting point of the dorsal fin to the lateral line, which are golden yellow.

Many people think that big yellow croaker is the grown-up small yellow croaker, NONONO!! Big yellow croaker and small yellow croaker are two different species.

Small yellow croaker can only grow to more than 20 centimeters, while large yellow croaker can grow to more than 50 centimeters. Small yellow croaker has a short tail and large scales. Its taste is very similar to that of large yellow croaker, and its meat is tender. If you can't afford large yellow croaker, you can try it instead.

Farmed yellow croaker includes ecological yellow croaker and common yellow croaker. As the number of wild yellow croaker decreases year by year, the use of deep-water cages to breed imitation wild yellow croaker has gradually come into people's view. Ecological yellow croaker is slightly better than ordinary farmed yellow croaker. It is not raised by hormones and can be eaten with confidence. Ecological yellow croaker is farmed in dead water, so the surface of the fish is a little stickier than wild ones. The price of ecological yellow croaker is slightly higher than that of ordinary farmed yellow croaker (currently no more than 100 yuan per catty) and it can be transported alive.

The "Jixiang Yellow Croaker" produced in Nanji Island not only tastes firm and delicious, but is also rich in a variety of trace elements and vitamins, and has anti-aging and anti-cancer effects. It must be a fine product in diet therapy. It is golden in color, spindle-shaped, with bright red gills and garlic-like flesh. Both its taste and appearance are comparable to wild yellow croaker!

A fisherman in Ningbo once caught a wild yellow croaker weighing 4.9 kilograms and sold it for 148,000 yuan, equivalent to about 30,000 yuan per kilogram. Locals said that they had not seen such a large yellow croaker for many years.

Nowadays, the price of wild yellow croaker weighing about 150 grams is about 400 yuan per kilogram; those weighing more than 250 grams can reach more than 660 yuan per kilogram; those weighing more than 500 grams are all priced from 1,000 yuan. Wild yellow croaker weighing more than 1 kilogram can even be sold at a high price.

From being a "domestic fish" in China to being worthless, why has wild yellow croaker reached its current situation?

People living along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are no strangers to wild yellow croaker.

In the 1970s, the East China Sea was the main production area for yellow croaker. At that time, the output of wild yellow croaker was astonishingly large, with the highest annual output in history reaching more than 100,000 tons.

At that time, my country's economic system shifted from a planned economy to a market economy. Because wild yellow croaker is delicious and has high nutritional value, it naturally became a fish species with extremely high economic value.

In order to catch large yellow croaker, a method called knocking on the nets was popular in Fujian. Knocking on the nets means that many boats knock on bamboo boards together to create resonance in the water. Large yellow croaker belongs to the family Sciaenidae, and there are two otoliths in their skulls. The resonant sound waves will cause them to have concussions. Because the knocking on the nets method is simple to operate and has a very fast effect, this method was soon spread to Wenzhou, and the large yellow croaker in Wenzhou was naturally not spared. Since then, large yellow croaker has disappeared and is almost extinct.

Since the 1980s, yellow croaker has not formed a fishing season, and has almost disappeared in recent years. Nowadays, people can only rely on artificial breeding to meet people's demand for yellow croaker. People have the habit of calling gold bars "big and small yellow croaker". Nowadays, the value of wild yellow croaker is comparable to gold. Moreover, it is not only expensive, but also there is no place to buy it even if you have money!

1. Look at the body color: Due to the different growth environment, the body color of wild yellow croaker is golden yellow, which is the real healthy color, not the color dyed after processing. The mouth of wild yellow croaker is also brighter and redder. Because it lives in the deep sea, its scales are clear and even, and the meat is arranged relatively tightly, which is more delicious. The skin color of farmed yellow croaker is dark yellow or grayish white, the fish lips are light in color, the meat is not firm enough, and it lacks the wild and delicious taste.

2. Look at the appearance: The fins of wild yellow croaker are generally clean and intact. When deep-sea fish are just caught, they die instantly due to the explosion of the swim bladder caused by the decrease in air pressure. There is little struggle, and the scales and fins will not leave any signs of congestion. Artificially farmed yellow croakers are generally kept in cages, and they are easily injured when swimming in a small space, so there are many scars on the body surface. Therefore, if the fins are a little red or damaged or scarred, it can be confirmed that they are farmed.

3. Look at the body shape: Wild yellow croakers travel in the deep sea for many years and have to avoid being hunted by natural enemies at any time. They move swiftly and agilely, so they have slender bodies, smooth curves, and tight bellies. Farmed yellow croakers live in cages and lead a leisurely life, so they are fatter and have swollen bellies. If you compare the two, the difference in body shape is obvious, and the taste is even more incomparable.