Sea Cucumber

The sea cucumber is a class of marine animals, lives in the deep ocean, sea cucumber usually has an elongated body, shaped like soft-bodied cucumber, and slippery skin. Sea cucumber is a very healthy food enjoyd especially by Chinese people, they are a delicacies and often used in soups and other stir-fries in Chinese cuisine.

Fresh sea cucumber

Beche-de-mer, holothuroidae, sea rat, sea slug, hai shen (Chinese), in Chinese it means 'The ginseng in the sea', which related to its nutritional and health benefits.

In Asian market, you can find both fresh sea cucumbers and dried ones, the fresh ones are placed at the cold foods section, and they are already cleaned; the other kind are kept in big jars, brown-colored.

For the fresh sea cucumbers, choose black ones with a smooth surface and fine gloss.

If you get dried sea cucumbers, please soften them by soaking in warm water for several hours before cooking. Rather bland on their own, sea cucumbers can easily absorb the flavors of the foods in which they are cooked. In Chinese cuisine, they are commonly used in soups,  and stir-fries.

Store the fresh sea cucumber in a refrigerator, can kept for 1 day; Store the dried sea cucumber at room temperature can last for months, but if you have soaked them then the leftovers can only last for 1 to 2 days if refrigerated.

Very good for health, but do not eat to much.

Plays an effective rool in tissue repair.