frog

Called 田雞, field chicken, in Cantonese, though it is an edible frog. The meat is white, fine-grained and faintly sweet. It is used in claypot rice and in double-boiled soups, and is sold freshly killed in Hong Kong wet markets.

TCM properties

Nature · cooling　Flavour · sweet　Meridians · spleen、bladder

Traditional food therapy

The tradition treats it as a light tonic: cooling without being depleting, used after illness or after a birth.

Cautions: read first

• Raw or undercooked frog carries a parasite risk (sparganosis). It must be cooked right through.
• Cooling in nature; those with a cold, weak digestion should eat less of it.

Preparation

Cleaned and jointed, blanched to remove any off note, and always cooked through.

Origin

Guangdong and Guangxi. Farmed across southern China and Southeast Asia; the wild-caught trade is separately regulated.

Availability in Australia

Not found in AU retail