Attention, autumn crab lovers! What can't crab be eaten with? Which parts can't be eaten?
The Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here, and for foodies the happiest thing is getting to eat delicious crab. Though crab is tasty, there are taboos to eating it. What can't crab be eaten with? Which parts can't be eaten? Today the editor is telling everyone to read carefully; eat it wrong and it can actually be life-threatening!
1. What are the benefits of eating crab?
Since ancient times crab has been a delicacy for Chinese people. Crab is rich in high-quality protein, the meat is fairly delicate, and the muscle fibers contain more than 10 kinds of free amino acids, among which glutamic acid, proline and arginine are more abundant, making it very beneficial for people who need nutritional supplementation after surgery, after illness, or with chronic wasting diseases. Crab is very low in fat, and the vitamin A especially abundant in crab roe is good for vision and skin health. At the same time, crab is also rich in the essential trace elements calcium, magnesium, as well as zinc, selenium and copper.
China has a tradition of eating river crab around the Mid-Autumn Festival. Crab is cold in nature, so minced ginger, perilla and the like are often made into seasonings for eating it. Crab roe can also be made into foods such as crab roe soup dumplings. Besides China, other countries and regions around the world also have people who regard crab as a delicacy. The world's largest crab-importing countries and regions are Japan, France, Spain, Hong Kong, China, the United States, Canada and Portugal, which are therefore also major crab-consuming countries.
2. What can't crab be eaten with?
Crab is tasty and nutritious, and is a food many people love to eat in autumn, but there are also many dietary taboos to eating crab. People often get abdominal pain and diarrhea after eating crab, and this is because they may not have paid attention to the details when eating it. Below, see clearly which foods crab should not be eaten together with.
1. Crab + beer = gout
When eating crab, it is best not to drink beer, because beer can activate the purine components in crab meat, and eating it in excess can make people prone to diseases such as gout and hyperuricemia.
2. Crab + persimmon = stomach upset
If you eat a large amount of persimmons or raw persimmons while eating crab, it will cause stomach upset in the person eating. This is because crab meat is rich in protein, and when combined with the tannin in persimmons they react with each other, forming protein that coagulates into lumps, which makes it very hard for our stomach to digest.
3. Crab + strong tea = stomach upset
Tea likewise contains a large amount of tannin, causing stomach upset in the person eating. So it is best not to drink tea within 1 hour before and after eating crab. The best pairing is white wine or yellow wine (huangjiu); white wine can bring out the umami in crab meat, while yellow wine can remove the fishy smell from crab meat.
4. Crab + cold drinks, ice water = causes diarrhea
Crab itself is cold in nature, and if it is eaten together with cold drinks, it will lower the temperature of the stomach and intestines, impairing gastrointestinal function and causing diarrhea.
5. Crab + pear, muskmelon = causes indigestion, diarrhea
Pear and muskmelon are cold-natured fruits, and eating them together will damage the spleen and stomach and cause indigestion.
6. Crab + mutton, dog meat, loach = harms vital energy, causes disordered spleen and stomach function
Mutton, dog meat and loach are warm in nature and have a warming, tonifying effect on the spleen and stomach, but if cold-natured crab is eaten together with these foods, it reduces their warming and tonifying effect, and is especially harmful to the spleen and stomach of people with spleen deficiency or yang deficiency.
3. Which parts of the crab can't be eaten?
1. Crab gills: The crab gills are the crab's respiratory organs, so they are very dirty. They grow on the underside of the crab as eyebrow-like strips, see the picture below.
2. Crab intestine: The black thread-like things in the crab roe and crab meat are the crab intestine, which contains the crab's excrement.
3. Crab stomach: The triangular thing in the crab roe on the crab shell is the crab stomach, which is also the crab's excrement.
4. Crab heart: After lifting off the crab shell you can see a layer of black membrane. The crab heart is between the crab paste and the black membrane, a hexagonal white flake, and is the coldest part, so generally don't eat it, see the picture below.
Note: Never eat dead crabs, because dead crabs carry large amounts of bacteria and toxins, and eating them will affect human health.
4. Who should not eat crab?
1. Gout patients should be careful about eating crab
Because crab is high in cholesterol and high in purines, gout patients should not eat too much of it;
2. People with colds, hepatitis or cardiovascular disease are not suited to eating crab;
3. People with an allergic constitution are not suited to eating crab
4. People with deficient cold of the spleen and stomach are not suited to eating crab
Conclusion: Although crab is tasty and nutritious, the editor wants to remind everyone to pay close attention: crab is cold in nature, so it must be eaten thoroughly cooked. Eating it in excess can easily irritate the gastrointestinal tract and trigger symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. It is suggested that when preparing crab, you can soak it for a while in high-purity yellow wine or baijiu to kill off some of the bacteria, and be sure to steam it at high heat for longer until the crab is thoroughly steamed through.
Related reading: How much is crab per jin in 2019?