CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to judge the quality of sea cucumbers?

How to judge the quality of sea cucumbers?

Gongpin Sea Cucumber kindly reminds you: It is difficult to identify dried sea cucumbers. Citizens can start from the following aspects:

1. Humidity

Sea cucumbers with high humidity or poor drying feel heavy and not hard enough in the hand. They feel soft to the touch, have damage on the surface and have an unpleasant smell. In general, the lighter and harder the product, the better the drying effect. Since different sea cucumbers have different textures, identification from the perspective of dryness and wetness varies from species to species. Fully dried sea cucumbers are hard and difficult to break apart. They are light in weight, feel like charcoal when knocked, and are elastic and echoing when thrown to the ground. Inferior dried sea cucumbers are easy to break, and have salt crystals or impurities falling off. They feel heavy in the hand, and have no elasticity or echo when knocked or thrown to the ground. This kind of sea cucumber has no nutritional value and is harmful to the body.

2. Appearance

Generally speaking, sea cucumbers with straight and complete spines, less or less lime in the mouth, small, clear and neat incisions, dense and clear legs under the abdomen, large size, uniform appearance, no damage, normal smell, and no irritating or corrupt smell after foaming are of high quality. Dried sea cucumbers with uneven sizes, irregular shapes, rough and dark colors, short spines, blunt or incomplete spines, unclear legs under the abdomen, irregular and unclear incisions at the ends, and obvious lime; and those with a large amount of salt crystals and impurities on the surface are of low quality.

3. Color

Another way to identify is by color. Good dried sea cucumbers have uniform color and are shiny. Gongpin Sea Cucumber reminds that you should pay attention to particularly black sea cucumber products. The color should be black-gray or gray with a little white. The body shape should be complete and correct, the individuals should be uniform, the size should be basically the same, and they should be firm and shiny. The white color is caused by the secretion of salt frost. Processors can make a fuss about the appearance. In order to increase the salt content of the dried products, the dried sea cucumbers that are repeatedly boiled and salted have obvious salt crystals or impurities in the body, and the gelatin layer is thin and uneven in thickness, and even broken, forming holes, and the tissue morphology is aged.

4. Types

Different types have different prices. In the sea cucumber market, the high-quality and high-priced sea cucumbers are mainly sea cucumbers, rough sea cucumbers, black milk sea cucumbers and white milk sea cucumbers. The latter two are larger, followed by plum blossom sea cucumbers, green sea cucumbers, yellow jade sea cucumbers, white stone sea cucumbers, etc. The price of red sea cucumbers and domestic sea cucumbers is similar, ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 yuan per kilogram. Rough sea cucumbers and milk sea cucumbers are less than 2,000 yuan per kilogram. The price of tropical meat ginseng is lower, about 1,000 yuan per kilogram.

5. Rehydration

Generally refers to the sea cucumber after foaming. The shape after rehydration is also very important. After the same size of dried sea cucumbers are foamed, the ones with plump flesh and upright dorsal spines are of better quality. After the high-quality dried sea cucumbers are swollen, they are fat, plump, and round, and the swelling rate can reach 600-700%. The swelling rate of inferior products is low, generally around 50%, and they may even shrink instead of swelling. Check whether there are any defects on the surface, whether it is firm, and the length of the spines. Toughness and elasticity: Feel the elasticity and toughness of the sea cucumber after rehydration by direct contact, and whether it is fragile. Finally, check whether there is sand or other unidentified objects in the sea cucumber body as weight gain.

How to distinguish good dried sea cucumbers? Choose good sea cucumber product manufacturers and companies, and good reputation can ensure the quality of sea cucumbers. Today, as food problems become more and more serious, citizens must be careful and cautious.

How many types of sea cucumbers are there

According to records, there are about 1,100 species of sea cucumbers in the world, and about 120 species in my country. Most sea cucumbers are inedible. According to statistics, there are 40 edible sea cucumbers in the world. Edible sea cucumbers in my country account for half, reaching 20 species. According to whether there are conical fleshy warty feet on the back of sea cucumbers, they are divided into two categories: "sea cucumbers" and "light sea cucumbers". Among them, "sea cucumbers" are mainly species of the family Stichopus, and "light sea cucumbers" are mainly species of the family Holothurian, Cucurbitaceae and Colocasiaceae. 1. Sea cucumbers: The family Stichopus includes imitation sea cucumbers, plum blossom sea cucumbers, green sea cucumbers and flower sea cucumbers. Imitation sea cucumbers are also called gray sea cucumbers, sea cucumbers, gray sea cucumbers, sea mice, which are commonly known as sea cucumbers. It is 20-40 cm long and cylindrical in shape. There are 4-6 rows of irregularly arranged conical fleshy spines (called papillae) on the back. The ventral surface is flat, and the tube feet are densely packed and arranged in three irregular longitudinal strips, which are used to cling to reefs or crawl. The mouth is located at the front, on the ventral side, with 20 frieze-shaped tentacles, and the anus is on the back. The skin is sticky and slippery, with well-developed muscles, and the body can be extended or curled. The size, color and number of fleshy spines often vary with the living environment. It likes to live in the seabed and reef bottom with slow and steady water flow, no fresh water injection, and rich seaweed. It hides during the day and comes out at night. It hibernates in summer when the water temperature is high. It excretes when the environment is not suitable. It has a strong regeneration ability and can regenerate after being damaged or cut. Sea cucumbers are distributed along the coasts of Shandong, Liaoning and Hebei in my country. They are mainly produced in Weihai, Yantai, Dalian, Changshan Island, etc. The fishing season is from November to June of the following year, especially in June and December when the catch is the largest. July to September is the hibernation season for sea cucumbers. The body wall of sea cucumbers is thick and soft, and it is the best quality sea cucumber, known as the "crown of sea cucumbers". Plum-blossom sea cucumbers are also called pineapple sea cucumbers. The body length is generally 60-75 cm, and the longest can reach 1.2 meters. It is about 10 cm wide and 8 cm high. It is the largest species in the class of sea cucumbers. The back thorns are very large, and the bases of every 3-11 thorns are connected in a plum blossom shape, so it is called "plum-blossom sea cucumber"; because the body shape is very similar to a pineapple, it is also called "pineapple sea cucumber". The bone pieces in the skin are very simple, one is a tiny, overlapping and dense granular body; the other is a slender and branched 2-3 times, irregular X-shaped body. When alive, the body color is bright, the back is orange-yellow or orange-red, with scattered yellow and brown spots; the belly is red; the tentacles are yellow. It lives in coral sand bottoms at a depth of 3-10 meters; it is distributed in the southwest Pacific Ocean, and is mainly produced in the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea in my country. It is large and thick, with good quality, and is the best edible sea cucumber in the South China Sea. Green sea cucumber is also known as square column sea cucumber and square sea cucumber; flower sea cucumber is also known as yellow meat sea cucumber, white sea cucumber, and square sea cucumber. They are all very common edible sea cucumbers in the South China Sea, with high yields and too soft and tender. 2. Light sea cucumbers: The sea cucumber family includes nine species of sea cucumbers, which is the family with the most species: Patterned white sea cucumber is also known as white melon sea cucumber, white milk sea cucumber, two-spot sea cucumber, etc. It has a fat body, and the front and back ends are almost the same width, resembling a winter melon. When alive, the body color changes greatly, with a white or light yellow base; the back is slightly light yellow-brown, and there is a reddish-brown horizontal spot on the front and back, so it is called "two-spot sea cucumber". It is a large edible sea cucumber with thick and tender meat. Snake-eye white sea cucumber is also known as tiger fish, leopard fish, spotted fish, etc. Its back is dark gray with yellow snake-eye-like markings arranged in irregular longitudinal rows. It lives in tropical coral reefs with a few seaweeds on the sandy bottom, at a depth of 6-18 meters, and has plump and tender meat. Radiated anal sea cucumber is also known as stone sea cucumber, cucumber sea cucumber, etc.; white-bottomed radiated anal sea cucumber is also known as boot sea cucumber, red melon sea cucumber, etc.; black wrinkled radiated anal sea cucumber is also known as black sea cucumber. These three types of sea cucumbers are all large edible sea cucumbers living in the waters of the Xisha Islands and the Nansha Islands. They are of good quality but low yield. In addition, there are black sea cucumbers, jade-footed sea cucumbers, black milk sea cucumbers, and rough sea cucumbers, all of which are common edible sea cucumbers in the South China Sea of ​​my country, with inferior quality. 3. Light sea cucumbers: Cucurbitaceae Cucurbitaceae includes three types of square column pentagonal sea cucumbers, naked pentagonal sea cucumbers, and knob pentagonal sea cucumbers. All of them have poor edible quality due to their hard body walls. 4. Sea cucumbers: The family of taro includes two species: sea sweet potato and sea club: Sea sweet potato is also known as eggplant sea cucumber and sea eggplant. Its shape and color are very similar to sweet potato, so this sea cucumber is called "sea sweet potato". The body is spindle-shaped and generally 4-12 cm long. When alive, the body is flesh-red, with a very thin and translucent body wall. After drying, the back is brown-black and the abdomen is light brown. Sea club is also known as sea mouse. It has a smooth body surface without tube feet or fleshy thorns. When alive, the body is gray-brown or yellow-brown, with a very thin and translucent body wall, and its longitudinal muscles and internal organs can be slightly seen through. Its edible value is very low.