Golden Cicada Shell Price, Benefits, Contraindications and Catching Methods: A Full Analysis

The golden cicada, also known as the cicada monkey or cicada turtle, is a common insect in most parts of our country, generally beginning to emerge from the ground in June-August, and because of its high nutritional value it is brought to the dining table. So how much is the cicada monkey (golden cicada) shell per jin? What benefits and effects does it have? Who should not eat it? How do you catch it?

Golden cicada shell price:

Golden cicadas cost 70 yuan per jin, and one jin weighs about 110 golden cicadas, so the price per piece is around 7 mao, more expensive than some seafood. Truly worthy of the name “golden” cicada. Because golden cicadas have been caught year after year, their production has dropped sharply in the past two years, and the price has risen year by year.

Why is it so expensive?

After asking several vendors selling cicada monkeys, the results showed that they said the number of cicada monkeys has decreased severely, which is the main reason for the price increase. “Before, when cicada monkeys first came on the market, they were at most 55 yuan per jin, last year 65 yuan per jin, rising in steps.” According to someone who has sold cicada monkeys for many years, the cicada monkeys he sold used to be purchased from Chengyang, but now there are fewer and fewer wild cicada monkeys, the middlemen's purchasing costs have risen, and the suppliers have decreased by more than half compared with before. Sometimes when he wants cicada monkeys, he cannot even find anyone to stock them. Overcatching is also a main reason for the decrease in cicada monkeys.

Benefits and effects:

1. Cicada slough is used for externally contracted wind-heat, fever with aversion to cold, cough, as well as rubella, skin itching and other conditions. Cicada slough has the effect of dispersing wind-heat, and when used for exterior syndrome due to wind-heat it is often combined with mint and the like; it also has the function of dispelling wind and relieving itching for rubella and itching.

2. Cicada slough is used for red and swollen eyes and for eye covering by nebula. This product has the effect of improving vision and removing nebula for red eyes and nebula caused by wind-heat, and for nebula forming in the eyes after measles, and can be used with chrysanthemum, eriocaulon, white tribulus and the like. Cicada slough

3. Cicada slough is used for tetanus, infantile convulsions, night crying and other conditions. Cicada slough can both dispel external wind and calm internal wind to relieve convulsions and spasms. For tetanus with limb twitching, it can be used with scorpion and the like; for convulsions and restlessness in infants with night crying, it can be used with gambir vine and the like.

4. Cicada slough is used for sore and swollen throat as well as hoarseness and other conditions. Sore and swollen throat treated with cicada slough is generally suitable when caused by externally contracted wind-heat, because it has the effect of dispersing wind-heat and benefiting the throat, and it is mostly used together with mint, burdock seed, forsythia, platycodon and licorice. As for treating hoarseness, it is suitable when caused by wind pathogens depressing the lung and lung qi failing to diffuse, taking its effect of diffusing the lung and opening the voice, and it is often used together with platycodon, butterfly pea, boat sterculia and the like.

5. Cicada slough is used for incomplete eruption of measles. Cicada slough promotes eruption and has a heat-clearing effect. Because it mainly disperses wind-heat, it is mostly used for incomplete eruption at the early stage of measles, often together with burdock seed and mint; but if heat is exuberant and the rash does not erupt smoothly, it can also be used with arnebia, forsythia and the like.

Who should not eat it?

Who should not eat it: kidney disease patients

Cicada monkeys are a high-protein food, and their digestion and absorption require strong kidney function; people with poor kidney function who eat cicada monkeys will aggravate kidney disease.

Liver disease patients

Some cicada monkeys have mild toxicity and require liver cells to detoxify them; people with poor liver function who eat cicada monkeys may experience poisoning.

Allergic constitution

The foreign proteins contained in cicada monkeys are allergenic substances, so people with an allergic constitution are not suitable to eat them, to avoid allergic reactions.

How do you catch it?

Because the cicada monkey is the larva of the cicada, during this period it cannot fly, and its movement speed is also extremely slow. Therefore, coming out at night can reduce death, and in summer you can start catching cicada monkeys at around 8 p.m. At this time the cicada monkeys are generally on the branches and trunks of trees and are very easy to catch.