If you stare carefully at a live scallop, you will be surprised to find that the scallop is also staring at you. In the depressions on the edge of the scallop shell, small dark dots shine. These are the eyes of the scallop, and there are more than 200 of them.

Each eye of a scallop has a retina and lens similar to those of humans. They can help the scallop sense changes in light and shadow and avoid predators. Since the eyes of scallops grow on the mantle (skirt) of the shell edge, this part is usually removed before serving, so many people do not see the eyes when eating scallops.

Dried scallops, which have a good freshness-enhancing effect, are listed as one of the eight delicacies of the sea. They are actually dried adductor muscles of scallops. Scallop cells contain a large amount of amino acids and nucleotides, which are full of umami. At the same time, scallops are also rich in protein, riboflavin, calcium, phosphorus, iron, selenium and other ingredients. They have high nutritional value and have always been loved by people.

Scallops are very rich in nutrients. Its protein content is more than three times that of shrimp, beef, and chicken. Therefore, there are many people who like to eat scallops, and they are also very particular about the cooking of scallops. There is a lot of sediment on the scallop shell. Use a toothbrush to clean the scallop shell. First of all, we need to use a blade to take out the scallop meat along the meat in the shell. The black part is the viscera, which is forbidden to be eaten, and the skirt around it is edible. The orange-red ones are the gills of scallops, which are forbidden to eat and must be removed.

When purchasing scallops, scallops that are uniform in size, have a uniform and shiny shell color, and can be closed quickly when the open shell is touched lightly are usually good scallops. Since scallops can easily carry pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, they should be cooked thoroughly before eating. In addition, the orange (female) or white (male) gonads and black digestive glands of scallops are most likely to accumulate various algal toxins. and heavy metal contaminants, it is best not to eat them.