Can Turtles Be Eaten? How to Eat Them, Benefits, Side Effects and Who Should Avoid Them

Because turtles have high nutritional value, people like to use them to make soup, but since they are protected animals, most turtles eaten are farmed ones, in order to achieve the benefits of health preservation and enhanced physical fitness. So can turtles be eaten? How are they eaten? What are the benefits, side effects and groups who should avoid them?

I. How to Eat Them

1. Can they be eaten?

Turtles can generally be eaten, but usually only farmed ones are eaten, because turtles are protected animals, so very few people eat them.

2. Why do people not eat them now?

Because turtles are a symbol of longevity, and turtles have a low reproduction rate and grow slowly, it is better not to eat them. They are much cuter than soft-shelled turtles! There is a saying: a thousand-year turtle, a ten-thousand-year soft-shelled turtle. Soft-shelled turtle meat is delicious, fatty but not greasy, nutritious, and high in protein; it is a precious tonic. It is also cheaper than turtle, so eat soft-shelled turtle rather than turtle. Of course, eating at a restaurant that serves turtle dishes is another matter.

3. How are they eaten?

(1) Braised Turtle Meat

Ingredients: 500 g turtle, 30 g goji berries, 35 g walnuts, a little MSG, scallion, ginger, Sichuan peppercorn, yellow rice wine, rock sugar and soy sauce

Method:

① Grind the walnut meat into fine powder, and wash the goji berries;

② Put the turtle in a basin, add hot water of about 40 degrees to make it fully urinate, remove the head, feet, shell and internal organs, wash clean, and cut into meat chunks;

③ Heat the wok, add vegetable oil, and when it is 60 percent hot, add the turtle meat chunks and stir-fry repeatedly;

④ Add ginger slices, scallion knots, Sichuan peppercorn, yellow rice wine, soy sauce, chicken stock, and an appropriate amount of clear water;

⑤ Then add rock sugar, goji berries and ground walnut meat, bring to a boil over high heat first, then switch to low heat and simmer;

⑥ When the turtle meat is tender and cooked through, season with MSG, stir-fry a few times, and serve in a bowl.

(2) Turtle and Mutton Soup

Ingredients: 500 g each of cleaned mutton and cleaned turtle meat, 1 herbal sachet (10 g codonopsis, 5 g each of angelica and prepared aconite), 10 g goji berries, 20 g ginger slices, 15 g each of scallion knots and rock sugar, 50 g Shaoxing wine, 4 g refined salt, 2 g MSG, 0.5 g white pepper, 75 g lard.

Method

① Briefly blanch the turtle meat in boiling water and remove, tear off the black membrane on the surface and wash clean. Then put the mutton and turtle meat together into a pot, bring to a boil, remove and wash clean, and cut each into pieces about 2.5 cm square.

② Put lard in the pot and heat it, add the mutton and turtle meat and stir-fry until the moisture is dry. Splash in the Shaoxing wine and stir-fry.

③ Add water to a clay pot, add the herbal sachet and boil for about 10 minutes, add the mutton, turtle meat, scallion, ginger and rock sugar, bring to a boil over high heat, simmer until tender and cooked through, pick out the scallion and ginger, add the goji berries, refined salt, MSG and white pepper, and bring to a boil to finish.

(3) Turtle Meat and Glutinous Rice Porridge

Ingredients: 100 g glutinous rice, 150 g turtle, an appropriate amount of goji berries, a little salt, MSG, cooking wine, sesame oil, white pepper, scallion and ginger

Method:

① Wash the glutinous rice and soak it in clear water for 2 hours;

② Shred the ginger and set aside;

③ Take the turtle meat, clean it thoroughly and chop into small pieces, stir-fry in an oiled wok until dry, splash in cooking wine, add salt and stir-fry until cooked, then set aside;

④ Add water to a pot and bring to a boil, add the glutinous rice and cook until 50 percent done, then add the turtle meat, goji berries and shredded ginger and cook into porridge;

⑤ Add salt, MSG, sesame oil, white pepper, etc. and mix well, then sprinkle with chopped scallion.

II. Benefits and Effects

1. Main benefits

(1) Inhibiting tumors: turtle blood can be used to treat rectal prolapse, bruises and injuries, and to inhibit the growth of tumor cells.

(2) Treating irregular menstruation: turtle bile tastes bitter and is cold in nature; it mainly treats eye swelling after smallpox, irregular menstruation, and inhibits the growth of sarcomas, etc.

(3) Nourishing and enriching the blood: turtles are especially suitable for people with insufficient qi and blood and malnutrition, and have a health-preserving effect.

(4) Promoting postpartum recovery: for women after childbirth, eating turtle can help with lingering weakness after childbirth and has a certain effect on postpartum recovery.

2. Side effects

When eating turtle, it is best not to drink alcohol, and turtle should also not be eaten together with pork, melons and fruits, or amaranth.

3. Groups who should avoid it

Turtle meat is a cooling food, so not everyone can eat it.

(1) Weak young children, women with lingering weakness after childbirth, rectal prolapse or uterine prolapse: boiling turtle meat and eating it has the effect of promoting recovery.

(2) Patients with bone tuberculosis, pulmonary tuberculosis or lymphatic tuberculosis: turtle shell and turtle plastron, charred and ground into fine powder, made into pills with jujube paste or refined honey, taken 6 g each time, 2 times a day, and after 1 to 2 months of continuous use, effects may appear; at that time, when pulmonary tuberculosis patients have their lesions re-examined, calcification may be seen. For bone tuberculosis in children, the effect is even better. (Charred snake-eating turtle made into pills, called Duanbei Gui Pills, has the same use as above. This patent medicine once existed in the Suzhou area of Jiangsu and was effective for bone tuberculosis.)

(3) Chronic tertian malaria, prolonged and persistent, lingering without recovery, or sometimes recovered and sometimes recurring, especially in those whose malaria recurs after labor: boiling turtle meat and eating it has a good effect.