There are several classifications of sea cucumbers, the classification of simple varieties will not be said, our market sale and consumption is generally the prickly cucumber, the market said the terminology, what is the bottom-seeded sea cucumbers, light dry sea cucumbers, in fact, is based on the cultivation of sea cucumbers and the processing technology division, the following is detailed.

(1) According to the geographical division:

1, Dalian sea cucumber

Characteristics: deep-sea bottom seeding: from the cold water sea area of Dalian Roosevelt Island, slow growth, rich in nutrient accumulation, plump meat, thorns, color, toughness, and strong taste.

2. Shandong sea cucumber

Features: Dalian and Shandong are close to each other, and the water quality and current are also very close, so the quality is relatively similar, but the temperature of Dalian waters is lower, and the growth period of sea cucumber is longer, so Dalian sea cucumber has a better taste.

3. Southern sea cucumber

Characteristics: northern sea cucumber is raised in the south, tropical waters, warm environment, feed feeding, sea cucumber growth cycle is fast, 5-10 months can be sold, the nutritional value and its cheap, short round thorns, poor taste.

(1) Divided according to the culture mode:

1. Cultured sea cucumbers:

Captive cucumbers, cage cucumbers and southern cucumbers are all cultured sea cucumbers, which are cultivated by using shrimp ponds or circling the sea. Cofferdam or shrimp pond water level is very shallow, light, sea cucumber growth is very fast, 1-2 years to grow into, low nutritional accumulation, the southern senator growth cycle is short, fast growth, production and scale, due to low farming costs, so the market price is relatively low, farmed sea cucumbers are artificially fed with a large number of hormones, if a large number of people eat, not only to the body has no benefit will also play a counterproductive effect.

2, bottom-seeded sea cucumbers

The bottom-seeded sea cucumber is the sea cucumber that is artificially nursed and put back into the sea to grow into by itself, which can be regarded as wild sea cucumbers from the point of view of the growth process of sea cucumbers. Now the wild sea cucumber generally refers to the bottom-seeded sea cucumber, the bottom-seeded sea cucumber fishing has a certain seasonality, and the growth of sea cucumbers with insufficient years of age are generally not caught. Bottom-seeded sea cucumbers will enter summer hibernation when the seawater temperature is too high, and they usually take 3-5 years to grow up to the fishing standard. This is also the reason why bottom-seeded sea cucumbers have fat meat, good toughness, more active substances accumulated in the body and high nutritional value.

3, wild sea cucumber

The pure wild sea cucumber is the sea cucumber that grows completely in the sea, grows in the deep-sea area without pollution, due to the factors of the natural environment, affected by the tide, the sea cucumber doesn't have a fixed food, and it feeds on seaweeds and microorganisms on the seabed, so it grows in a purely natural way, and the long growing cycle makes it extremely rich in the nutrients contained in the sea cucumber.

(1) Processing technology:

1. Lightly dried sea cucumber

Dried sea cucumber is a sea cucumber product made from fresh sea cucumber by removing the internal organs, cleaning, boiling, shrinking, and natural drying. Sea cucumbers that are not artificially added with any additives during the processing of sea cucumbers are called lightly dried sea cucumbers. Lightly dried sea cucumber is the best among sea cucumber products, which is free of sugar and water, and convenient for storage.

2. Salt-dried sea cucumber

Salt-dried sea cucumber is salted to increase the weight of the sea cucumber and to facilitate preservation, etc. Salt-dried sea cucumber usually has a layer of salt grains or salt foam attached to its appearance, so its appearance is white, and no clear epidermal skin and small feet can be seen, and the disadvantage of it is that it causes nutritional loss in the process, and the nutrient residue is less than 10%, and it is hard to absorb the rest of the nutrient content; It is also difficult to absorb the remaining nutrients. The process of hair preparation for consumption is cumbersome; some unscrupulous traders also salted the sea cucumber several times in order to increase its weight.

3. Sugar-dried sea cucumber

In the process of processing dried sea cucumber, the sea cucumber is placed in white granulated sugar to "soak and dry", so as to utilize the sugar in the weight of dried sea cucumber to increase the weight, in order to achieve the purpose of reducing the selling price of sea cucumber and saving the cost, the sugar-dried sea cucumber is relatively humid, and it cannot be stored for a long period of time; at the same time, the rise in the hair rate and taste are not as good as light-dried sea cucumber. It is not as good as freshly dried sea cucumber; the process also loses nutrients and introduces sugar, which is unfavorable for diabetic patients to consume.

4. Freeze-dried sea cucumber

Taking fresh sea cucumber as raw material, after careful cleaning, the fresh sea cucumber will be rapidly frozen to minus 35-45 degrees Celsius in freeze-drying warehouse, so that the water in the sea cucumber will freeze, and then the ice will be sublimated into water vapor directly under vacuum, so as to achieve the purpose of drying out water in the sea cucumber, with the disadvantage of high processing cost, The disadvantages are high processing cost, it is still difficult to absorb and utilize the sea cucumber polysaccharides and other substances, the nutrition will still be lost during the soaking process, and the taste is soft and not as good as the traditional lightly dried sea cucumber.

4. Instant sea cucumber

Through the process of disconnecting the complex molecular chain of sea cucumber and leaving the important active nutrients in the body of sea cucumber, it is not necessary to foam it, so it can be eaten directly. The disadvantage is that the taste of instant sea cucumber is generally softer due to the limitation of the processing technology and it is a little bit different from the taste of dried sea cucumber foaming.

4. Canned sea cucumber

The high-pressure senator or aquatic sea cucumber is stored in the soup, and then sealed and stored in the bottle or bag, which is convenient for immediate consumption, and it is determined that the loss of nutritional value is serious in the processing, the taste is not good in the long term, and the absorption and utilization rate of the human body is only about 10 percent. Individuals in order to solve the storage problem, will add preservatives.