How much is sea cucumber per jin, and how do you tell good from bad?

Sea cucumber has always been the first among the "Eight Sea Treasures," with rich nutritional value and health benefits. So how much is sea cucumber per jin? And how do you tell good from bad?

1. How much is sea cucumber per jin?

As farmed sea cucumber products from coastal areas enter the market on a large scale, farming and processing enterprises that mainly produce bottom-sown sea cucumber (whose quality is close to wild) have been hit hard. By comparison, the price of farmed sea cucumber is about 20% lower than that of wild sea cucumber; fresh sea cucumber sells for an average of 130 yuan per kilogram, while fresh wild sea cucumber sells for an average of 170 yuan per kilogram.

2. How do you tell good sea cucumber from bad?

1. Observe the shape

Good-quality dried sea cucumber has a plump, cylindrical body, straight spines, is light in weight, and has intact, neatly arranged suckers (feet) under the belly. Its color is black-gray or gray, its surface is firm and glossy, the spine tips are straight and regular, and the cut on the back is small but clear and neat, with the densely packed feet under the belly visible.

2. Identify by color and quality

After being soaked in water, dried sea cucumber takes on a true agate color, is highly elastic, has a soft and glutinous texture, shows no signs of breakage, and has no off odor. In addition, if dried sea cucumber tastes sweet when you lick it with your tongue, it may have had sugar added, and it is best not to eat it.

3. Touch it to check the feel

Dried sea cucumber is fairly hard, not easy to break apart, not too heavy, and leaves no impurities falling off.

4. Cut it open and observe

Cut the dried sea cucumber crosswise: if the inside is clean with no salt crystals, no internal organs, sand, or other impurities, and the flesh wall is very thick and dark brown in color, it is a good sea cucumber.

3. Should you buy dried sea cucumber or fresh sea cucumber?

Because fresh sea cucumber is very difficult to preserve, sea cucumber products on the market at home and abroad are still mainly dried sea cucumber.

Generally speaking, eating fresh sea cucumber directly is naturally more nutritious and also avoids the problem of buying fake sea cucumber, but because the transport cost of sea cucumber is high, it is usually limited by region, and even when it is available, the price of fresh sea cucumber is much higher.

Sea cucumber is processed into various sea cucumber products, such as salt-dried sea cucumber, lightly dried sea cucumber, freeze-dried sea cucumber, salted sea cucumber, and ready-to-eat sea cucumber, among which traditional salt-dried sea cucumber is still the main sea cucumber product.

Therefore, as long as you make sure you are buying real sea cucumber, dried sea cucumber is also more cost-effective by comparison.