What Is Crab Paste (Xie Gao)? One Article Explains the Difference Between It and Crab Roe

Many people love eating crab because of its delicious taste and, more importantly, the many nutrients the human body needs that it contains, but many people still do not know what crab paste is. It differs from crab roe by only one character, so how do you tell them apart? Here is an introduction.

1. What is crab paste?

1. Crab paste is the collection of semen and organs from the seminal vesicles of male crabs, and it is also a sign that a male crab is strong and mature. In its natural state it is a bluish-white, translucent, jelly-like liquid, and after steaming it becomes a translucent, sticky, slightly greasy gelatinous substance.

2. Crab paste is generally at its best for tasting in the tenth lunar month, when it is at its plumpest and most delicious, and it contains large amounts of protein, fat, phospholipids, vitamins and other nutrients essential to the human body, giving it a good nourishing effect on the body.

3. There are two kinds of crab paste: river crab paste and sea crab paste. River crab paste is slightly sweet, while sea crab paste is somewhat fishy. Most people can eat it, but its cholesterol content is very high, so patients with coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis or high blood lipids should eat little or none of it, and should not eat it in excess, to avoid taking in too much cholesterol.

2. What are the differences between crab paste and crab roe?

Difference 1: Crab paste is found only in male crabs and is a mixture of semen and organs; crab roe is found only in female crabs and is a mixture of crab eggs and organs.

Difference 2: Crab paste is bluish-white and translucent, and is at its plumpest in the tenth lunar month; crab roe is orange-red or dark yellow, and is at its plumpest in the ninth lunar month.

Difference 3: Crab paste has a delicate texture with a slightly sweet taste on entry, and is suited to being chewed slowly; crab roe tastes like egg yolk, but is more savory than egg yolk, with a chewy texture in which you can taste many small grains.

Difference 4: The main components of crab paste are protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, phospholipids, minerals, vitamins and so on; the main components of crab roe are fatty acids, phospholipids, iron, phosphorus, selenium and so on.

3. Which tastes better, crab paste or crab roe?

1. As for which tastes better, crab paste or crab roe, this varies from person to person. For people who love eating crab, both are very delicious.

2. Generally speaking, crab paste is to a certain extent actually fat. The more crab paste there is, the stronger the male crab, and its texture is more delicate and dense, a kind of fragrance, but it is not fragrant the moment it enters the mouth: you need to hold it in your mouth and let it slowly melt, and only then does the flavor gradually emerge. Crab roe looks like egg yolk and tastes like egg yolk too, only more savory than egg yolk, and because crab roe contains some fertilized eggs, it has a sandy, granular texture when eaten.

Summary: Crab paste is the collection of semen and organs from the seminal vesicles of male crabs, is found only in male crabs, and is different from crab roe, so be careful to tell them apart. Note that patients with coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis or high blood lipids should eat little or none of it, and should not eat it in excess.