Once upon a time, a man walked through the orange street lamp and came to the late-night canteen - "Yo ~ boss, a plate of spicy crayfish!" "Holding the red crayfish in both hands, gently separating the shrimp head from the body, eating a bite of shrimp meat, sucking a bite of shrimp yellow, and then taking a bite of shrimp meat...
The delicious meat of the crayfish warms the stomachs of the majority of foodies.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
However, unconsciously, the foodies split into two factions... Some people say that the yellow thing in the shrimp head is the soul of the crayfish! It's the essence! But some people scoffed at this head.
Shrimp head pie: The yellow and yellow things in the shrimp head taste like crab yellow, and it is too wasteful not to eat!
Shrimp Body Pie: Shrimp ball is justice! The shrimp head is full of dirty things, so don't eat it
Who are the two factions?
Let's get a preliminary look at the delicious crayfish in the world
The crayfish we eat actually have an official name: Procambarus clarkia, which is native to the southeastern United States, so it is also called American crawfish. Its native land is near the Gulf of Mexico, especially in the mouth of the Mississippi River, so it is also called Louisiana Crawfish. It is the most edible freshwater lobster species, accounting for 70 to 80% of the total freshwater lobster production.
Don't look at its small size, it is a fast-breeding, fierce temperament, and super adaptable species! Nowadays, crayfish have been promoted and farmed in more than a dozen provinces and cities such as Hubei and Anhui.
(Farmers catch crayfish in breeding bases| People's Network Jiangxi Channel)
The crayfish are small but well-equipped. The shrimp body you eat is actually just its tail. And its brain, heart, gonads, digestive glands, stomach and antennae glands and other miscellaneous organs, are concentrated in the head. As for the shrimp yellow worshipped by the "shrimp head pie", it is actually the digestive glands of the crayfish, that is, the liver and pancreas of the shrimp.
In fact, "shrimp yellow" is rich in unsaturated fatty acids (DHA, EPA, etc.) protein, trace elements selenium, and various vitamins. Well, that still sounds great, right? Unfortunately, reality is always harsh, and you have overlooked an important issue -
Heavy metal contamination.
Crayfish are indeed very adaptable to the environment and are able to survive in heavily polluted areas. In the case of pollution in water bodies, fish, shrimp, crabs and other aquatic products living in them will indeed enrich pollutants, the most typical of which include methylmercury, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins. The ability of crayfish to enrich heavy metals is also higher than that of grass carp and crucian carp.
Where do these heavy metals and contaminants go? Most of them are transferred to the shell, and as they continue to grow and dehull, these heavy metal toxins are removed from the body; the other part is concentrated in the gills and internal organs, and the gills and internal organs are mainly in the head...
Shrimp body pie can not worry, the tail meat does not have too much heavy metal, causing heavy metal poisoning is unlikely. But shrimp heads...
It was as if I had heard the heartbreaking sound of "Shrimp Head Pie".
Seeing this, I am afraid that some foodies will be shocked: I have eaten crayfish heads for so long, will it be okay?
Don't panic. Consumers eat crayfish mainly in the summer, and the short-term consumption may be relatively large, but the average intake throughout the year is still small. As long as you don't eat every day, eat every meal, and eat all year round, then the part that has already been belly does not need to be panicked, and you can pay attention to it in the future.
In addition, here is a reminder to the majority of foodies, in order to enjoy the crayfish safely, we must pick a better water quality environment to breed. (Important thing to repeat three times: Don't eat wild crayfish!) Don't eat wild crayfish! Don't eat wild crayfish! The shrimp shells are washed before cooking. It must be completely cooked at a temperature above 100 degrees to kill the parasites in the shrimp.
And the shrimp head, try to eliminate it and don't eat it.
Can the "tail" of the snail be eaten?
Some people think that it can be eaten: the tail is "yellow", the taste is the most fragrant, and the eating blogger even chooses this place to eat it. Some people think that it cannot be eaten: the tail is full of, and the excrement of the conch and sand impurities are mixed in, and it may be poisoned if eaten.
So today we will take a look at the composition of the snail 'tail' and analyze whether it can be eaten from a scientific point of view.
(Eat the snail tail pulled out by the blogger|bilibili/Xiangxiang Battle)
What's inside the Tail?
The so-called snail "tail" generally refers to the soft part of the snail that is curled up in the shell except for the head and feet of the snail. Let's look at an anatomical diagram:
(Anatomy of a snail|njscuba.net)
Did you find out that the "tail" is actually the visceral mass of the snail. It is wrapped in the heart, kidneys, stomach, gills, gonads, digestive glands and other organs of the snail. The excretion, reproduction, digestion and some of the nerve functions of snails are done through visceral clumps. The largest proportion of visceral mass is the digestive glands and gonads, which is what people call "yellow".
So now, our question becomes - can the snail's offal be eaten?
First of all, to answer an age-old puzzle: the shells of snails are closed, how do they?
Look closely at the digestive system of the snail in the anatomical diagram, where food enters through the mouth, through the sac, stomach and intestines, and reaches the anus. The place where the anus leads is not the tip of the snail shell, but the outer cavity that communicates with the outside world. Therefore, as soon as the is pulled out, it is discharged into the outside water body, and there is no in the conch tail. In other words, the conch's ass grows on the edge of the mouth, and the shit does not pull in the "tail".
But that doesn't mean the conch 'tail' is clean. Although there is no, there are still some risks in eating snail tails.
*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.
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