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Writer's pictureMichelle Lee

Cleaning Sea Cucumber Process


Sea cucumbers disregarding their different sizes and colours, possess the same nutrients. They contain loads of protein and are low in fats and cholesterol. This is a much sought after dried seafood delicacy. In Cantonese, it is known as Hoi Sum. It represents with a symbolic rhyme of Happy hearts. This is reasonable enough why sea cucumbers make good gift packs during Chinese New Year.

There are 2 types sold, in dry form & wet form.

The dried ones, you can purchase from chinese medicine hall and need days of soaking which involves more tedious work & time consuming as you need to prepare days in advance before you planning to cook the dish.

The soaked ones or fresh ones, require less work & time saving. Normally sold in the wet market and partially cleaned.

I bought some at the wet market and here's showing how I cleaned and process them before ready to cook. Bought this lots for RM50, got 36pcs.. Which I consider very cheap. Nearing CNY will be getting more pricey.

They already split open the stomach but not thoroughly cleaned. You can see some entrails / intestines & dirt inside like sand or coral bits (sea cucumber eat corals)

Remove all entrails by pulling it out gently, scrub it inside out & spread it open while you wash it under running tap water to wash out sands/coral bits trapped inside.

All cleaned now.

Boil a pot of water. Add few slices of ginger into the pot to remove the fishy odour. Boil it for 10 minutes. Strained & rinse with tap water to clean for a final round.

After this process, it should be ready for cooking. You can cook it immediately or pack it nicely & freeze it for future use. To use the frozen ones, you just need to defrost it and it will be ready to cook.

Few recipes I had cooked before using Sea Cucumber.

Pig Maw Chinese Cabbage with Sea Cucumber Soup

Braised Sea Cucumber with Radish & Chinese Mushroom

Happy Cooking..

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