What do live scallops look like? Sea scallops - benefits and harm
Scallops- a universal delicacy that has many cooking methods. They can be boiled, fried, added to a salad or soup, stewed, or pickled. At the same time, the taste of seafood will not stand out from the general palette of the dish, but will only complement it with its tenderness. Residents of Europe, China and Japan will not have a question about what scallops are. But in our country it is very rare to find them on the table. To correct this shortcoming, let's try to understand the usefulness of this product.
What are scallops?
Scallops are animals belonging to the phylum molluscs. They live in the salty waters of almost all seas of the World Ocean. The soft body of the mollusk is closed on both sides by two ribbed valves shaped like a semicircle. Mollusks spend their entire lives at the bottom of reservoirs. Interesting feature This invertebrate is its way of moving. In order to accelerate its body, the mollusk intensively opens and closes the shell valves. Dredges are used to collect scallops from the bottom. But if the deep-sea surface is not smooth, then collection is done manually.
Answering the question: “What are scallops?” - you can’t help but touch them symbolic meaning. In old times, the shells of these mollusks were used as a talisman and an amulet. Also, the scallop shell was a symbol of femininity and fertility. For example, in Botticelli’s painting “The Birth of Venus,” the goddess is born from sea foam on a scallop shell. After the pilgrimage that the Apostle James made, the shell of a mollusk became a symbol of all pilgrims making spiritual journey to the tomb of this saint. IN modern world The famous Shell company, which produces oils for cars, uses a scallop shell for its logo.
Benefits of scallops
Answering the question of what scallops are, you need to look at the composition of the delicacy. Bivalves are a treasure trove useful substances and a favorite product of nutritionists. In order to make sure of their healing properties, let’s look at the components in order:
- Squirrels. Contents of this organic matter great in scallop. Approximately 100 grams of product contains about 40 grams of protein. It contains essential amino acids that are not produced in our body, but their importance is great. By consuming proteins in food, we provide ourselves with building components from which proteins in our body are formed. Also substances have great value when forming defensive reaction body for antigens.
- Fats. The amount of fat in scallop meat tends to zero. 100 grams of product contain only about 0.9 grams of fat. That is why this seafood delicacy is included in the menu of many diets.
- Carbohydrates. The sugar content in scallops is also negligible. People suffering increased level blood sugar levels, can safely consume this type of product.
- Vitamin B12. Compared to squid and shrimp, scallop is the leader in the content of a vitamin important for human life. Eating meat seafood delicacy in food, you provide yourself with a supply of health. After all, it is known that vitamin B12 is responsible for blood formation and function in the human body. nervous system without crashing. 200 grams of product contains a daily dose of vitamin B12.
- Iodine. All seafood delicacies contain iodine, so scallop is no exception. 100 grams of meat contains daily norm microelement. The importance of iodine for the human body is great. After all, it is involved in the synthesis of a hormone that is responsible for energy production in the body. A deficiency of this microelement leads to apathy and decreased vital activity.
- Omega-3 fatty acid. Once in our body, these unsaturated acids actively affect wellness person. Because thanks to omega-3 blood vessels do not become overgrown with atherosclerotic plaques, and the blood circulating through them does not thicken. In addition to the beneficial effect on cardiovascular system, omega-3s affect the condition of the brain. Doctors often prescribe medications containing these unsaturated acids to people with bad memory. A pleasant bonus from the presence of omega-3 in food - good condition skin, youth.
- Sea scallop fillet contains great amount microelements (about 2 grams per 100 grams of product). There are: phosphorus, sodium, zinc, potassium, calcium, sulfur and others. All of them contribute to the normal functioning of the body.
Damage to scallops
Scallops, like most seafood, are a serious allergen. Therefore, if a person has a reaction to shrimp, crabs, squid and other seafood, then it is better to avoid eating this delicacy.
People suffering from hyperthyroidism should also eat scallops with caution. After all, additional iodine consumption in this case will negatively affect human health.
How to choose
Harvesting scallops from seabed, they are immediately cooled and cleared of the exoskeleton. We are used to seeing the already gutted version of the delicacy. Sea scallop is a perishable product. Therefore in fresh it is impossible to purchase it in cities located far from the sea. Frozen scallops are often found on store shelves and, less often, chilled products. A good and fresh scallop is creamy in color and small in size. White color scallop indicates pre-processing of the mollusk before freezing. Big sizes indicate the age of the scallop: than more clam, the older it is, the fewer nutrients it contains.
How to store
The main method of storing seafood delicacies is blast freezing and vacuum packaging. In this form, scallops can be stored for 3 months. If you are lucky and you bought a chilled product, you can keep it fresh with ice. In this form, it can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three days. The best option- is to cook and eat.
Price
The price of scallops depends on where the shellfish was caught. The most common scallops on sale in Russia are Sakhalin, North Kuril and Chinese scallops. The best are those that were mined in northern seas. The price of scallops per kg varies from 1,500 rubles to 2,500 rubles. Despite the high cost of the product, it is quite in demand among consumers.
Delicious delicacy
In reviews of recipes with scallops, the chefs’ impression of these mollusks is very positive, since a lot can be prepared from it delicious dishes. This is a very rewarding product to use in cooking. You can simply boil it in water for a few minutes and then enjoy the most delicate taste delicacy. In Japan, for example, it is customary to eat shellfish raw, adding only some sauce. Another one of elementary ways Serve the scallops - fry in a hot frying pan for a few seconds on each side. According to reviews from lovers of this delicacy, its texture and taste remain delicate.
Recipe: Scallop Salad
Despite the fact that scallops are now not classified as exotic products and can be bought in almost any supermarket, a dish with this delicacy will always be a table decoration. One common way to serve shellfish is to make a salad with it. There are many recipes for snacks of this kind on the Internet. For example, the combination of tomatoes and scallops is harmonious, so you can come up with a lot of snack variations based on these products. Let's consider one of the options for how to cook scallops.
Ingredients: 3 medium tomatoes, 300 grams of scallops, 2 boiled eggs, 1 small onion. You can use mayonnaise as a sauce.
First you need to boil the scallops in slightly salted water for no more than five minutes. Then drain them in a colander and cool. While the clams are cooling, cut the tomatoes into cubes, chop the eggs, and fry the onion in a frying pan until tender. After main component lettuce has cooled, tear the fillet into fibers with your hands. The final step is to mix all the salad ingredients with mayonnaise and salt to taste.
Recipe: okroshka with scallops
On the Internet you can find original recipes with scallops. Surprise your household with okroshka with this clam.
Ingredients: 3 boiled potatoes, 2 boiled eggs, 2 fresh cucumbers, 1 bunch each of dill and onion, 300 grams of scallop. For the sauce: 4 tbsp. l. sour cream, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, mustard and salt to taste. Use your favorite kvass as the liquid component.
The preparation of the dish is no different from ordinary okroshka. Cut potatoes, eggs, cucumbers into cubes. Fry the scallops in a frying pan for no more than five minutes. Then cut into cubes too. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan, add chopped onion and dill. In a separate bowl, mix mustard, sour cream, salt, sugar. Add sauce before serving. Pour kvass into portions for everyone.
Now even residents of Siberia can treat themselves to a treat made from scallops. To do this, they do not need to fly to sea shores, but just walk a few meters to the nearest supermarket.
Scallops are an excellent source of pure protein with minimal fat. The love of devouring fresh scallops is especially common in China and France. In these countries, it is customary to eat scallops while they are alive, lightly sprinkled with lemon juice adding salt and olive oil.
But it is not at all necessary to eat this seafood raw; world cuisine knows many recipes for its preparation. variety of dishes with the participation of mollusks. Scallop dishes are perfect for dietary nutrition.
The main advantage of all seafood can be called low content fat in shellfish meat - per 100 g of product there is only 2 g of fat, while it contains practically no carbohydrates, the glycogen content is within 3 g for the same volume.
It turns out that including scallop dishes in the diet will help not only maintain a decent level of protein in the body, but at the same time prevent the entry of hated fats into the human body. The low calorie content of scallop dishes allows them to be used in a low-carbohydrate diet.
Iodine
Shellfish meat allows you to completely absorb this useful mineral by the human body. Without iodine, it is not possible to effectively combat the symptoms of lethargy, fatigue and stress - the lack of secretion of T3 and T4, which occurs when the functioning of the thyroid gland is disrupted, has exactly this effect, and iodine restores and strengthens it. The presence of iodine is mandatory in foods for nursing women and children.
Magnesium
Without sufficient quantity Magnesium in the human diet causes an imbalance in the water-salt balance, which can lead to seizures. Magnesium is useful for strengthening the nervous system and maintaining its tone.
Potassium
Strong and healthy blood vessels can be preserved by receiving required amount this mineral. Potassium is useful for stable heart function and will help cope with metabolic disruptions in the human body. Like magnesium, potassium controls water-salt balance and with its significant deficiency, swelling may occur.
Vitamin B12
Sea scallops contain the optimal amount of vitamin B12, without which it is impossible to carry out rehabilitation after long-term protein-free diets. After giving up meat and dairy dishes, recovery with seafood is more effective and safer, and the level of vitamin B12 in the body returns to normal.
The nervous system, which does not receive enough B12, begins to malfunction, which is expressed in a lack of coordination, a decrease in the pain threshold when the body is exposed to high and low temperatures. Seafood is a source of essential amino acids, which, like vitamin B12, are easily absorbed by the human body.
In children's diet
Domestic medicine does not advise consuming foods that can cause an allergic reaction in children, and seafood can be just such an irritant for fragile children. child's body. Some experts suggest that pregnant women and children should completely avoid eating seafood, but such arguments have not yet been supported by sufficient scientific research and the harm has not been proven.
How to choose shellfish
Not many people can consider themselves experts in such a matter as how to choose delicacies caught in the sea depths. Fresh gifts from the ocean have no smell other than the natural sea scent of iodine-rich algae. Scallops should be on ice on the store counter.
You should choose only fresh, live shells with strongly compressed valves, otherwise you will purchase an already dead mollusk and will not receive quality product. If you have to purchase scallops frozen, make sure they have not been thawed. Repeated procedures for freezing marine life lead to a decrease in the quality of the product. The benefit from preparing such products will not be great.
How to cook
Fresh shells are washed using a brush in running water, removing fine debris from sand and various bottom sediments. To quickly open the doors, throw the shells into boiling water for a couple of minutes. The extracted meat is washed plain water and the product is ready for cooking.
The taste of scallops is slightly sweet and the structure of the meat is similar to shrimp. Preparing shellfish is quick and quite simple.
Before cooking, shellfish should be defrosted; it is believed that by putting frozen scallops in boiling water, you get a tasteless dish; all famous restaurateurs insist on this.
Thawed shellfish should not be eaten raw, as the Chinese or French do (they only eat fresh shells) - send the meat for heat treatment in any way.
Scallops can be boiled, fried, stewed and marinated. To get a dietary dish, you should pay attention to the freshness of the oil when frying, in order to avoid carcinogens in fried shellfish. It is enough to keep the meat for 2-3 minutes in a well-heated frying pan with a minimum amount of olive oil and an excellent dietary dish is ready.
To cook scallops, it is enough to keep them in boiling water for 6 minutes, steaming will take up to 12 minutes, baking depends on the temperature in the oven and is calculated individually. You can find numerous recipes for scallop dishes on the Internet.
Your feedback on the article:
Scallops are a delicious seafood product widely used in cooking and Food Industry. It is eaten as an independent dish or used as an ingredient in salads and hot dishes. However, few people know what this product is, what a scallop looks like, what the composition and properties of this unusual mollusk are.
General description and types
Scallops are bivalves that have an unusual round, fan-shaped shape. Sea scallops live in almost all large bodies of water globe. In Russia, these marine animals live in the Japanese, Bering, Okhotsk and Chukchi seas. The shell of these sea creatures is quite beautiful in nature, so various souvenirs and decorative elements are often made from it.
Often the shell has various unusual scales, spines and other protruding elements that turn the shell into a real work of art. The color of the shell can also vary significantly depending on the habitat of the mollusk.
The feeding method of this mollusk is filtering. Scallop small size capable of passing through about 3 liters sea water at one o'clock. As for the method of movement of marine inhabitants of this species, it should be noted that they are active swimmers. They move, periodically patting their valves.
In total, hydrobiologists know more than 250 species. It is worth considering the most common varieties.
- Icelandic. This species is quite large in size (shell length reaches 10 centimeters and weight – 600 grams). The Icelandic scallop feeds on algae that floats freely in the water. Lives this type shellfish in the waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic on a sandy bottom.
- Seaside. The diameter of the white shell of sea scallops reaches 20 centimeters. It happens this mollusk off the coast of Sakhalin and Kamchatka.
- Black Sea. These scallops are quite small in size (the diameter of the shell reaches up to 5 centimeters) and have a bright color. The scallop lives at a depth of 50–60 centimeters in the Black Sea.
Composition and properties
Being a seafood product, scallop contains a large number of useful components: vitamins, minerals, as well as macro- and microelements. For example, it contains calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulfur, iodine, B vitamins. Scallops also contain many essential for human body amino acids. Due to such a rich composition, eating shellfish can have a number of positive effects on the human body, among which the following are worth highlighting:
- treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system;
- lowering blood cholesterol levels;
- promotion male potency and sexual desire (aphrodisiac properties);
- normalization of metabolic processes;
- improving the functioning of the nervous system;
- activation of the endocrine system;
- increasing the overall energy of the body;
- treatment of atherosclerosis;
- normalization of the pancreas and digestive system.
Important! Excessive consumption of this product may cause allergic reactions.
In this regard, women are prohibited from eating scallops during pregnancy and breastfeeding. This shellfish should also not be consumed by people suffering from hyperthyroidism, which is due to the high iodine content in the product.
If we talk about the nutritional and energy value of scallops, it is important to note that per 100 grams of product there are only 88 kilocalories. This indicator indicates that this type of mollusk is dietary product nutrition, which is allowed to be consumed even by people who are on diets, trying to lose weight, maintaining healthy image life and eat right. Studying the composition of BJU, scientists found that per 100 grams of scallops there are 17.5 grams of protein and 2 grams of fat, and there are no carbohydrates in the product.
Application
Most wide use The scallops were obtained from a culinary shop. So, soups, salads, snacks and other dishes are prepared from them. Scallop meat is very tender and sweetish in taste. Recipes with this ingredient are more typical of French cuisine. Methods for preparing scallops can be different: they are baked in the oven and grilled, boiled, stewed, marinated and much more.
In addition to cooking, scallops are also used in cosmetology. Sometimes scallop extract can be found in various creams and masks. This is due to the fact that this mollusk is able to have a beneficial effect on human skin.
You can see how to cook scallops in the following video.
What does a scallop look like - photos and pictures
1. What do scallops look like?
2. Scallops: possible harm and obvious benefits
3. Energy value composition of scallops. How many calories are in scallop shellfish?
4. What should you pay attention to when purchasing scallops?
5. Where to buy scallops in Moscow?
What do scallops look like?
The scallop belongs to the family bivalves, living in the waters of the oceans and most seas. Outwardly, it resembles its closest relative, the oyster. However, his distinctive feature is a corrugated shell with pronounced longitudinal depressions.
The name of the scallop is often heard by everyone; not everyone can imagine what they look like.
Scallops: possible harm and obvious benefits
Pictures of scallops give us an idea of what this seafood looks like. What about its properties as an ingredient in the diet?
The body of the mollusk, which is hidden behind the shell under a layer of film, is edible. The meat of these sea creatures is tender and pleasant to the taste. It has a characteristic odor inherent in all seafood and is a dietary protein in pure form. It is also a source of nutrients, vitamins and minerals that every person needs every day.
Among the obvious benefits of consuming scallops are the following:
· This product has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrine systems.
· This product replenishes calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iodine and iron in the body.
· Scallop meat contains the whole complex essential vitamins and amino acids that take an active part in all metabolic processes.
But despite these positive traits However, not everyone is recommended to eat scallops. This product also has specific contraindications. These include:
· Individual intolerance to seafood;
· Pregnancy and lactation;
· Age up to 10 years;
· Oversaturation of the body with calcium, phosphorus and iodine.
Where the seafood was caught is also important. Unfortunately, it is almost never possible to establish this. It is worth considering that if the scallop’s habitat was unfavorable, such a product can be harmful to the body.
Energy value of the composition of scallops. How many calories are in scallop shellfish?
Scallop is an excellent food for those who are watching their figure, but at the same time do not want to starve themselves.
This seafood is 70% water. The percentage of protein in it is 19%. Fats account for only 2%, and carbohydrates 3%.
100 grams of scallops contain only 92 kcal.
This makes it possible to conclude that even those sitting on strict diet People.
What should you pay attention to when buying scallops?
Now you know what this seafood looks like in photos finished form. But one picture of a scallop is still not enough to navigate making the right choice this product. Let's figure it out what do scallops look likein the sink to be fully prepared before purchasing.
To avoid disappointment with your purchase, use the following tips:
· Decide what is more important to you: taste or low price. Loose scallops are cheaper than frozen and canned ones, however, they taste qualities they are largely outperformed.
· What the seafood looks like is also important. If you want to impress your guests, give preference to frozen scallops, fillet meat, or, if you can find it, together with the shell. So, placing the cooked seafood on beautiful dish, you will create a spectacular presentation exactly like in restaurants.
· If you want to eat scallops the way real Asian and European gourmets do, eat them raw, sprinkled with lemon juice. But it is important here that they are still alive when purchasing. This is the only guarantee of their freshness and safety. In supermarkets, this product can be stored in ice for no more than three days.
· Thaw scallops properly. To do this, without opening the vacuum packaging, immerse the product in water at room temperature.
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Scallop
Scallops (lat. Pectinidae) are a family of marine bivalve mollusks. Scallops have an unequal shell with ears - relatively large areas in front and behind the apex. These mollusks are known for their ability to close their valves with great frequency and rise into the water column. A scallop is a mollusk that grows in a bivalve shell and belongs to the scallop family (Pectinidae). They live in almost all oceans and seas at various depths, down to ultra-abyssal ones. The most greatest depth 8100 m of scallop habitat was recorded by the team of the research vessel “Vityaz”. Another sea creature Sea cucumbers of the coastal seas.
The scallops outwardly resemble a rounded shell with a straight locking edge, which protrudes from the front and the ears in the back in the form of angular protrusions. The upper left valve is flatter, and the lower right valve is more convex. The surface of the shell is decorated with concentric or radial ribs, often bearing scales and spines. The shell of shallow-water scallops (Chlamys, Pecten, Flexopecten) is generally large, hard-walled, colored white, pink, red and purple, often with a speckled pattern. In abyssal and bathyal forms (Propeamussium, Amussium thin, sometimes with internal ones, Delectopecten), the shell valves are fragile, thin, translucent, with external radial ribs (a rare species among shells). There are no hinge teeth, but the short ligament occupying the triangular deep fossa is well developed. The poorly developed and rudimentary scallop leg is a finger-like dense outgrowth. Byssal attachment of the combs (thin buckle) is characteristic of them in the early stages of life. Marine animals, having matured, generally lose this ability, but there are exceptions. Scallops are considered the most mobile of all 2-valves mollusks (oysters, mussels) that use this unusual way movement for shells is like swimming. The shell is equilateral (of the same length), streamlined and flattened. The only posterior adductor (muscle) is clearly differentiated into both parts, one of them consists of “fast” striated fibers, the other of “slow” smooth ones. When swimming main role plays a bundle of “fast” fibers. Unfused edges of the mantle, where the inner fold of the mantle edge is equipped with short muscles and is very expanded, with the help of these muscles, it is attached to the surface of the shell from the inside; There are also concentric (longitudinal) muscles here. Behavior and habitat. Scallops can perform 2 types of swimming movements, as well as a characteristic turning movement. During normal swimming, scallops move forward with their ventral edges, periodically flapping their valves. During the period of forward movement, the scallop immediately moves upward. If the mollusk is in danger or if it is irritated, you can see the following picture. The sail is pulled up, bending inside the mantle - it makes a long sharp leap forward with its dorsal edge (lock). The normal position of the mollusk on the ground looks like this - the left flattened valve is facing up. In the middle fold of the mantle margin there are numerous ocelli, the number of which is not constant even within one species. These photoreceptors provide orientation for scallops when swimming. Some Western scientists even believe that light refracted through the eyes illuminates the mantle cavity inside and plays a small role in the metabolism that contributes to the use of light energy. They are even called “heliophanes,” which means “sun-eaters.” There, on the middle mantle fold, there are many sensitive thin hair-like outgrowths, which play the role of organs of touch and stand in the way of the flow of water, which is directed into the mantle cavity. Scallops have plenty of enemies, including sea stars. His half-meter leap is effective way Avoid attacks from various types of predators. The only light touch on the edge of the mantle to the sensitive fringe forces the scallop to an immediate sharp jump. In addition to fleeing from predators, shallow-water forms in hot period able to move to deeper, cooler places, and in winter time on the contrary, it promotes movement in warm places, that is, closer to the shore. Scallops feed on small planktonic organisms and suspended matter, extracting food particles from the water that enter the mantle cavity. Just like crayfish, they can be classified as orderlies; one such scallop with a 4-centimeter shell is capable of filtering approximately 3 liters of water in 60 minutes, and for example, a seven-centimeter specimen can filter up to 25 liters of water in the same time, i.e. they have a very high filtration capacity. In Primorye, they are used to check whether there are foreign particles in the water (oil, etc.), which are so harmful to the underwater world.
Cultivation and fishing of scallops. In addition to Primorye, scallops live in coastal waters and shallow waters of temperate and subtropical zones World ocean. IN Russian seas Relatively few species of scallops live, most of mollusks live in Far Eastern seas. At a depth of fifty meters in the Sea of Japan from Sakhalin, Kamchatka to Korea and the South Kuril Islands, Far Eastern scallops live: the very brightly colored and beautiful Swift's scallop (lat. Swiftopecten swifti). Scallops have long been considered a delicacy (more precisely, their large adductor (muscle), sometimes mantle), it was highly valued by the ancient Romans and Greeks. Currently, in coastal, island and many other countries, these shells are eaten both in frozen and fresh, canned and even dried forms. Large sea scallops are a very successful fishery in our country. Their canned or freshly frozen meat is widely sold. The fresh-frozen product, which was called “scallop muscle,” turned out to be especially popular. The coastal species of scallops reaches 16 years of age and 18-20 centimeters in length, or even more, but they are rare. Scallops They catch them with nets and dredges, and divers collect them by hand. In the scallop habitat, one diver can boast of a catch of several thousand shells in 6 hours of collecting. In one summer season(June-July) breeding, a five-six year old female lays up to 30 million eggs, which are fertilized in water. A veliger emerges from the eggs and soon settles to the bottom. The settled juveniles move with the help of proportionally stronger legs, with whose help they actively crawl at first. Juveniles are actively colonizing coastal thickets algae, either actively moving or attaching by byssal threads. After three months of life, by autumn, young mollusks reach 7 to 10 mm. At this time, the leg lags behind in growth, compared to other organs of the body, the scallops begin to move like adults, that is, in leaps. It is actively grown in part of the waters of Peter the Great Bay in the Far Eastern marine reserve. First, they are raised for a year in shallow water kindergarten, then they are transplanted into other cages - this process is called charging. One-year-old grown scallops are poured into a standard cage, the so-called garland. Each garland has 30 cells (sections), nine combs are poured into each section. And they are lowered into the water where they grow. After two years, they grow to the required size and are collected for sale. As a product, three-year-old scallops reaching 9-10 centimeters are best valued. Everything in the scallop is edible except the shell and stomach. The mantle contains a huge amount of minerals. Scallop muscle is a protein that is especially beneficial for men. Off the coast Southern Primorye The population density of the sea scallop is up to 7-10 individuals per 1 m2.