Can Pregnant Women Eat Sea Cucumber? The Best Time to Eat Sea Cucumber and a Complete Guide to Cooking Methods
Sea cucumber, also known as spiny sea cucumber, sea rat, and sea melon, is one of the eight great delicacies, ranked alongside shark fin, ginseng, and bird's nest. It is highly favored for its high nutritional value and because it can be used both as medicine and as food. Nowadays many people like to buy and eat it themselves, so can pregnant women eat sea cucumber? When is the best time to eat it? How do you cook it deliciously?
1. Can pregnant women eat it?
Yes, they can, and sea cucumber can provide comprehensive nutritional support for pregnant and nursing women and strengthen their constitution. It is clear that sea cucumber has very high nutritional value! When cooked properly, sea cucumber tastes very good and can also stimulate the appetite. Pregnant women can eat sea cucumber, and the benefits are many.
1. Benefits for pregnant women:
(1) During pregnancy, the fetus's demand for protein increases markedly. If the mother's protein intake is insufficient, it will affect the fetus's growth and development. Sea cucumber is very rich in protein and contains 18 kinds of amino acids that the human body needs. If pregnant women eat some sea cucumber regularly, it is beneficial to the normal development of the fetus.
(2) Sea cucumber is rich in DHA, a polyunsaturated fatty acid that is an essential nutrient for maintaining normal immunity and can improve immunity, especially being essential for the development of the fetal brain nerve cells. Pregnant women eating sea cucumber can promote the fetal brain development.
(3) Sea cucumber “is warm and nourishing in nature, fully comparable to ginseng.” It is sweet and salty in taste, neutral in nature, non-toxic, and also tonifies the kidneys and nourishes yin, beautifies the skin, and darkens the hair. It can resist aging, enhance immunity, promote blood circulation, and resist radiation.
(4) “Dietary Recipes for Daily Living” records: “Sea cucumber can nourish yin and tonify blood, strengthen yang and moisten dryness, regulate menstruation, nourish the fetus, and facilitate childbirth.” At the same time, sea cucumber contains a large amount of the trace element iodine, which helps the fetus's intellectual development. Iodine also has the effect of promoting metabolism and smooth blood flow. Therefore, it is extremely suitable for patients with high blood pressure during pregnancy.
(5) After a pregnant woman becomes pregnant, the progesterone in her body keeps changing, and various harmful bacteria can easily take advantage of the opening. Sea cucumber has the effect of inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria and pathogenic fungi (trichophyton, mucor, candida, aspergillus, and trichomonas), among which the bactericidal effect of holothurin is particularly prominent.
(6) Sea cucumber is rich in collagen, and it is said to prevent stretch marks.
2. Precautions for pregnant women eating sea cucumber
(1) The best period to eat sea cucumber
The best time for pregnant women and nursing mothers to eat sea cucumber is: start six months before planning to become pregnant, stop about two months before planning to become pregnant, sea cucumber can be eaten throughout the entire pregnancy, and in the later stage of nursing, that is, about two months before planning to wean, it is advisable not to eat more than two sea cucumbers per week.
(2) Do not eat too much sea cucumber
Sea cucumber is warm and hot in nature and is a nutrient-rich tonic. Eating too much easily causes internal heat, and there is a risk of increasing “macrosomia.” Eating it once or twice a week is sufficient.
(3) Do not eat sea cucumber on an empty stomach; it is best to eat it together with other food.
(4) Pregnant women allergic to seafood should not eat sea cucumber.
(5) Eating sea cucumber during nursing must be done in moderation. Nursing women eating sea cucumber can indeed greatly improve their own immunity and help the body recover. Through breastfeeding, it also has a relatively strong effect on improving the child's immunity, but nursing women must eat sea cucumber in moderation. Excessive consumption will lead to reduced milk production, and the nutritional content in the milk will be too high. When the infant drinks breast milk, there may be a state of overexcitement. In severe cases, conditions such as clumping of the infant's subcutaneous fat may even occur.
2. How to eat it?
1. Introduction to ways of eating:
(1) Dragon Boat Sea Cucumber
Ingredients: 1 rehydrated pig's trotter sea cucumber, 150 g small dried scallops, 10 dried shiitake mushrooms, 1 can canned sea asparagus, 1 stalk white scallion, 3 slices ginger, 1/2 tsp minced garlic.
Method:
① Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in advance, put them in a pot, add water to cover the mushrooms, add 1 tbsp oyster sauce and braise until soft. Wash and soak the small dried scallops until soft, and drain the sea asparagus. Put a little oil in the pot, add ginger slices and white scallion and saute until fragrant, then pour in clear water and bring to a boil. Add 2 tsp yellow wine and the sea cucumber and blanch for 2 minutes, then remove and drain.
② Use a little sesame oil to saute the minced garlic until fragrant, add the shiitake mushrooms, the water used to braise the mushrooms, and the water used to soak the dried scallops and bring to a boil. Put the sea cucumber into the pot and cook until soft, then add the sea asparagus. Prepare a large plate, line the bottom with napa cabbage, fish out the sea cucumber, shiitake mushrooms, and sea asparagus and arrange them on the plate.
③ Add the small dried scallops to the remaining broth and cook for 2 minutes, then season. Mix cornstarch with water to make a thickening sauce and thicken it (I did not use seasoning and it was already flavorful enough.), pour it over the dragon boat, garnish with western broccoli, and the dazzling “Dragon Boat Sea Cucumber” is complete.
(2) Sea Cucumber with Carrot
Ingredients: 200 g sea cucumber, appropriate amounts of carrot, oil, salt, chicken essence, and scallion.
Method:
① Rehydrate the sea cucumber, remove the internal organs, wash, slice, and blanch. Wash the carrot and slice, wash the scallion and cut into sections.
② Heat oil in a wok and stir-fry the carrot, scallion, and sea cucumber for 2 minutes.
③ Add salt and chicken essence to season and it is ready.
(3) Butterfly Sea Cucumber
Ingredients: 150 g sea cucumber, 20 g shrimp, 25 g cooked chicken, 25 g cooked egg white, 20 g winter bamboo shoots, 15 g ham, 2 stalks choy sum, 2 g salt, 1 g monosodium glutamate, 3 ml cooking wine, 0.2 g pepper, 3 g sesame oil, 40 g vegetable oil, 3 g scallion, 2 g ginger, 300 g chicken broth, 4 g starch.
Method:
① Wash the sea cucumber and cut it through the middle, make one cut, and change it into large butterfly slices. Slice the winter bamboo shoots, slice the egg white, and cut the ham into slightly smaller slices. Cut the choy sum in half. Slice the chicken, and coat the shrimp with starch.
② Blanch the sea cucumber and bamboo shoot slices in water until done. Scald the choy sum with boiling water. Slip the shrimp through warm oil until done. Heat oil in a wok, saute the scallion and ginger, add the stock, add the sea cucumber and the above auxiliary ingredients, add seasonings and taste, and after it comes to a boil, skim off the foam. Thicken with starch sauce, add sesame oil, put it into a soup plate, and sprinkle with the shrimp.
(4) Wonton Sea Cucumber
Ingredients: rehydrated sea cucumber, ground pork filling, wonton wrappers, scallion, ginger, salt, cooking wine, soy sauce, pepper, aromatic vinegar, sesame oil, cilantro, chicken essence.
Method:
① Add stock, salt, cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, and chicken essence to the ground pork filling and stir vigorously in one direction until it becomes sticky, add sesame oil and mix well, then wrap into wontons with the wonton wrappers; slice the sea cucumber into large slices; slice the scallion and ginger; chop the cilantro, and simmer the sea cucumber slices in stock for 20 minutes.
② Saute the scallion and ginger until fragrant, add the sea cucumber slices, stock, salt, cooking wine, pepper, and soy sauce, simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, add aromatic vinegar, thicken with water starch, drizzle with sesame oil, put the hot and sour sea cucumber into a bowl, fry the wontons in warm oil until golden, arrange the wontons on a plate, and pour in the hot and sour sea cucumber.
(5) Sea Cucumber with Pig's Trotter
Main ingredients: rehydrated sea cucumber, pig's trotter, yuba, choy sum, oil, ginger, cooking wine, scallion, salt, white sugar, red dates, fermented bean curd, bay leaves, cassia bark, star anise, soy sauce
Method:
① Scrape and wash the pig's trotters clean, and thaw the sea cucumber for later use. Prepare the yuba, choy sum, and various spices. Put the pig's trotters into a pot with cold water, blanch, then remove and rinse clean under running water. Heat oil in a wok, and stir-fry the white sugar over low heat until melted. Put the pig's trotters into the wok and turn them, add soy sauce and fermented bean curd and stir-fry until the pig's trotters are evenly colored.
② Put the ginger, red dates, bay leaves, star anise, and cassia bark into a pressure cooker. Pressure cook for 20 minutes. Soak the yuba in water and cut into sections; peel the choy sum and keep only the stems; cut the sea cucumber into pieces. Blanch the choy sum and yuba in a pot, then remove and rinse with cold water for later use (salt and oil should be added to the blanching water). Then boil water again, add cooking wine, blanch the sea cucumber, and remove.
③ Braise the pressure-cooked pig's trotters together with the sea cucumber until the sauce is reduced, add an appropriate amount of salt and chicken essence to season, then plate. Cut the blanched yuba and choy sum into sections and arrange them around the sea cucumber and pig's trotters.
(6) Sea Cucumber Porridge
Main ingredients: 100 g japonica rice, 30 g sea cucumber (dried)
Method:
① Rehydrate the sea cucumber, cut open the belly, remove the internal intestines, scrape and wash clean, chop, add water, and cook until soft;
② Rinse the japonica rice clean and put it together with the sea cucumber in a clay pot;
③ Add clear water, first bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the rice is cooked and soft.
(7) Golden Soup Sea Cucumber
Ingredients: sea cucumber, pumpkin, stock, choy sum.
Method:
① Braise in stock until flavorful. Steam the pumpkin until cooked, then crush it into a fine puree, mix with stock to make a sauce, and put it on a plate.
② Place the cooked sea cucumber on the sauce and add the choy sum.
2. Who should not eat it?
(1) Children generally should not eat much sea cucumber.
(2) When taking certain individual Chinese medicines, one should also eat less or not eat it.
(3) People with a cold, wind-cold, or fever should not eat it.
(4) Patients with a cold or diarrhea had best temporarily avoid eating sea cucumber.
(5) Patients with hyperuricemia should not eat sea cucumber over the long term.
(6) People who are easily allergic to protein should not eat much sea cucumber.
(7) Sea cucumber moistens the five viscera and promotes fluids and urination, so people with dampness in the spleen and stomach, cough with excessive phlegm, or a thick, greasy tongue coating should not eat it.
(8) Those with a weak spleen and stomach should not eat it, but they may selectively take sea cucumber health products.
(9) People with rheumatoid arthritis should also eat less or not eat sea cucumber (there are not many dietary restrictions for rheumatoid arthritis; if it is not accompanied by hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and so on, it can all be eaten.)
3. What can it not be eaten with?
(1) Vinegar: Sea cucumber has very high nutritional and therapeutic value, but if vinegar is added when preparing sea cucumber, its nutritional value will be greatly reduced, and eating the two together will produce an effect similar to eating them with glycyrrhizic acid.
(2) Grapes: Grapes have high nutritional value, and eating some appropriately can strengthen the spleen and stomach, but sea cucumber cannot be eaten with grapes, otherwise it will have the opposite effect. Not only will it fail to repair the stomach and intestines, it will instead be harmful.
(3) Persimmons: The tannic acid contained in persimmons together with the protein and calcium salts of sea cucumber will form a precipitate. This precipitate will irritate our gastrointestinal organs and can easily cause illness, such as symptoms of nausea and constipation.
(4) Hawthorn: Hawthorn cannot be eaten together with sea cucumber, because the acidic substances contained in hawthorn will destroy the collagen contained in sea cucumber, and eating the two together will also cause symptoms of abdominal pain and vomiting.
(5) Glycyrrhizic acid: Glycyrrhizic acid will cause changes in the spatial structure of the collagen in sea cucumber and cause protein molecules to aggregate and contract to varying degrees, not only affecting the deliciousness of the sea cucumber but also affecting the absorption of collagen.