What are the Four Great Chinese Delicacies?

Shark's fin, bird's nest, sea cucumber and abalone are collectively known as the four great delicacies of China.

Bird's nest, correctly translated as SWIFLETS NEST, has always been regarded as a tonic, is a kind of bird that grows in the sea around Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, and likes to live in groups in the caves of Hainan cliffs. A kind of bird called "Golden Swallow", using moss, seaweed and soft plant weaving mixed with their feathers and saliva cemented into the bird's nest, as a hiding place. People take down this kind of bird's nest, and after refining and selecting it becomes the famous bird's nest.

The Golden Swiftlet makes nests three times a year, and the first nest is thick and white. Because the Golden Swiftlet has a long period of rest and recuperation after the long winter, it stores enough nutrients in its body, and its saliva is better, so the nests that it builds up are better and thicker, and their shapes are so good that they become marigold-shaped, so it is called "Marigold", and it is the best of all the bird's nests. It is the best of all bird's nests. In June, Swiftlets build their nests again, but due to the short period of time, they are not fully recovered, so the nests they build are of poorer quality and are thinner and hairy, which is obviously inferior to the first nests. In September, the swiftlet made the third nesting, and it was said that because the swiftlet was approaching the production period, and because of the time constraints, the physical strength and saliva could not be fully replenished, and there was an urgent need to feed the fledglings, and the physical exertion was very great, so the nest of the third time was definitely worse than the first two times, and therefore, it was necessary to choose a larger number of feathers and impurities to be mixed in order to build the liquid insufficient to spit out the blood to become a blood swiftlet, which is not a believable argument. There is a kind of bird's nest called "Blood Bird's Nest", many people mistakenly think that because of the lack of saliva, even the blood is spat out to build the nest, so it becomes Blood Bird's Nest. In fact, the blood swiftlet is a species of swiftlet called "brown-tailed swiftlet". This kind of swiftlet may drink different kinds of water, or the feed it eats may contain minerals and other factors, which may cause its saliva to appear red, so it builds a "blood swiftlet" nest.

Blood Swallows are mostly found in Roland Rock, Kornsberg and Songkhla Mountain in Thailand, and are not formed by the blood of swallows. According to the information, the quality of blood bird's nest is actually inferior to that of white bird's nest, and its aroma and soaked ingredients are not as good as those of white bird's nest, so blood bird's nest has only become more famous in recent years.

There is another type of bird's nest called "White Bird's Nest", which is mostly produced in Indonesia, and there is another type of bird's nest called "Hairy Bird's Nest", which is mostly produced in Boon Lay and Borneo. This kind of hairy swiftlet is thinner, darker in color, with more feathers and impurities, and is mainly nested by a kind of swiftlet called "Gray-waisted Golden Swallow", while others with too many impurities and feathers are collectively known as hairy swiftlet.

Dr. Jiang Yunxiang, a veteran in the field, analyzed that bird's nest can promote cell division (not dividing cancer cells), stimulate lymph gland cells, promote kidney development, have immune and antibacterial effects, and maintain youthfulness and vitality. Bird's nest has the same efficacy regardless of its origin and grade. Bird's nest is best served with skinless chicken. Bird's nests are also known as "House Bird's Nests" and "House Swallows", which are clustered together in large old houses to build nests. Bird's nest was only introduced into medicine during the Yuan Dynasty. Bird's nest can maintain youthfulness through the skin, and is rich in protein, carbohydrates, ash, phosphorus, calcium, iron, potassium and other nutrients, making it a popular moisturizer for people who love to nourish themselves.

The shark's fin is the filamentous cartilage in the shark's fin. Sharks belong to cartilaginous fish, fin bone shaped like fans, but bite more crispy than fans, the taste is better. From a modern nutritional point of view, shark fins (i.e. cartilage) does not contain any human body easy to lack or high value of nutrients, so eating shark fins is a cultural phenomenon unique to China. As China is located in the temperate zone with cold winters, frequent droughts and floods, inland areas are relatively remote from the sea, so the food preservation technology is very developed, drying and hydroponics process is one of the most important methods. Dried shrimp, sea cucumber, abalone, shark's fin, bird's nest, squid, shiitake mushrooms, yucca slices, yellow flowers, fungus are examples of the application of this method. During this process of drying and hydration there are physical and chemical changes, and the texture and flavor of the food is sometimes superior to that of the fresh product, and some harmful substances are also removed. The preparation and cooking of shark's fin is so complex and specialized that amateurs are hardly allowed to touch it, which not only justifies the high price of shark's fin soup, but also establishes the status of eating shark's fin as a Chinese cultural wonder. If these techniques are lost because shark fins are not eaten, it would be an incalculable loss to Chinese civilization.

Shark's fin is one of the eight delicacies of the sea, with bird's nest, sea cucumber and abalone known as China's four "delicious". It is made from the shark's chest, abdomen, tail and other parts of the fin fins cut into silk dried, not only is the famous "delicious food", but also said to have a variety of therapeutic value. Chinese tradition believes that eating shark fins can benefit the vital energy, clear the mind, remove phlegm, diuretic, appetizer, moisturize the skin and nourish the face; it can nourish the five organs, grow the waist strength, solve the liver depression, activate the blood, and moisturize the muscle.

Sea cucumber belongs to Echinodermata, sea cucumber, is a kind of echinoderms that grows on the rocky bottom of the ocean or among the seaweeds, also known as sea cucumber, sand spout. There are many kinds of sea cucumber, more than 1100 kinds of sea cucumbers all over the world and more than 100 kinds of sea cucumbers in our country, and there are more than 20 kinds of sea cucumbers available for consumption, such as plum ginseng, spiny sea cucumber, black sea cucumber, light sea cucumber, melon ginseng, jade foot ginseng, etc. Sea cucumber varieties vary from place to place, China's Xisha Islands, Hainan Island produces plum blossom ginseng, Wuyuan ginseng, etc.; Fujian, Zhejiang produces soap ginseng, light ginseng, and the only northern sea product is the spiny ginseng, which is a more famous variety of edible sea cucumber.

Characteristics

Characteristics of the ginseng: also known as the sand Xun, ginseng family. The body length is 20-40 centimeters. The body is cylindrical with a bulging back, the body shape, size, color and the number of spines vary with the living environment. Individuals living on rocky bottom and in the sea area with lower water temperature have more and bigger spines, fatter body wall and yellowish brown or dark brown body color. It inhabits in water depths of 3-15 meters. Activity ability is weak, the bait for the sediment in the organic matter and tiny animals and plants. Such as diatoms, protozoa, gastropods and Ulva schreberi. Do not tolerate high temperatures, dormant in summer, active action in winter, spawning period varies with the water temperature. Generally from mid-May to early July, spawning water temperature at 18-20 ℃. It takes more than 20 days for the fertilized eggs to develop into young ginsengs, and when the water temperature exceeds 20℃, it will start to sleep in summer, and move to a deeper shady place in the rocky reef to stop feeding and movement. The regeneration ability of the ginseng is very strong,

The plum ginseng, a member of the ginseng family, is one of the larger sea cucumbers. The spines on the back are large, and the tube feet on the ventral surface are numerous and densely crowded. The dorsal surface is orange-yellow or orange-red, with scattered yellow and brown spots. There are 20 tentacles, which are yellow in color. Lives in 3-10 meters of a few seagrass coral reef sandy bottom, its cloaca is often small fish **** born. China produced in the South China Sea. The body is large and thick, for food, but also for medicinal purposes, the efficacy of the same as the ginseng, its nutritional value is only second to the ginseng.

Nutritional value:

Sea cucumber is a valuable delicacy of sea food, warm, sweet and salty flavor, function of the kidney and essence, muscle and stop bleeding. It is listed among the eight great sea treasures. The meat color is green and moist, the texture is fine and tender, containing high-level protein and a variety of minerals and vitamins necessary for the human body. A long time ago, it was regarded as a nourishing treasure. Each hundred grams of dried product contains 76.5 grams of protein, 1.1 grams of fat, 13.2 grams of sugar, 4.2 grams of calcium, phosphorus, iron, iodine and other useful minerals. Sea cucumber is the only animal food without cholesterol. In addition, sea cucumber also has high medicinal value. According to medicine books, sea cucumber has the function of tonifying the kidney and benefiting the essence, and it is effective in treating tuberculosis and hemoptysis, aplastic anemia and diabetes mellitus. Sea cucumber contains a kind of acidic mucopolysaccharide, which has an inhibiting effect on the growth and metastasis of malignant tumors, and is thus favored by people.

Abalone, with the fish have nothing to do with, but with the snail and so related. It is a single shell mollusk in the ocean, only half of the shell, shell thick, flat and wide, the shape of some like the human ear, so it is also called "sea ear". There are only traces of the spiral part, which takes up a very small part of the whole shell. There are 9 holes on the edge of the shell, from which seawater flows in and out, and even the abalone's respiration, excretion and reproduction have to rely on it. So it is also called "9-hole snail". The surface of the shell is rough, with black-brown patches, and the inner surface shows the pearl luster of green, green, red, blue and other colors. Fresh abalone after shelling, salting for a period of time, and then boiled, remove the viscera, sun-dried into dry products. It has delicious meat and rich nutrition." Abalone, ginseng, shark's fin, tripe", are precious sea food, and abalone listed in the sea cucumber, shark's fin, fish maw first. Abalone shell is a famous traditional Chinese medicine - stone cassia, the ancient books also called it a thousand light, the efficacy of the famous purpose, hence the name. Cassia also has the effect of clearing heat, calming the liver and calming the wind, and can treat dizziness and fever-induced spasms and convulsions of the hands and feet. There are about 90 species of abalone in the world, and their footprints are all over the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The one produced in Bohai Bay of China is called wrinkled disc abalone, with larger individuals; the one produced in the southeast coast is called miscellaneous abalone, with smaller individuals; and the semi-striped abalone and goat abalone produced in the Xisha Islands are the famous edible abalone. Since the natural production is very small, so the price is expensive. Now, the abalone-producing countries in the world are developing artificial culture, China in the 1970s cultivated miscellaneous abalone seedlings, artificial culture was successful.

The abalone, known as the "crown of the sea food", has been one of the "eight treasures" of the sea since ancient times. Abalone named fish, is not a fish. It belongs to the gastropods, abalone family of marine shellfish. Because of its shape like a human ear, it is also called "sea ear". Dalian, Liaoning has many islands and reefs along the coast, with mild climate and rich bait, which is very suitable for abalone to live and reproduce. The abalone produced here accounts for 70% of the national production.