Crab

VARIANT NAMES: Guosuo, Gui, Fu, Pangxie, Maoxie, Daoxie, Bingqian.

ORIGIN: The meat and the internal organs of Eriocheir sinensis [ Grapsidae].

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: Every 100g of the edible part contains 14g of protein, 2.6g of fat, 0.7g of carbohydrate, 141mg of calcium, 191mg of phosphorus, 0.8mg of iron, 230 IU of vitamin A, 0.01 mg of thiamine, 0.51mg of ovoflavin, 2.1 mg of nicotinic acid and a trace of cholesterol. The muscles contain more than 10 kinds of free amino acids, of which glutamic acid, glycine, proline, histidine and arginine are more than the others in content.

NATURE, FLAVOR AND CHANNEL TROPISM: Salty in favor and cold in nature, acting on the channels of the liver and stomach.

EFFICIENCIES AND INDICATIONS: Clearing away heat, removing blood stasis, promoting reunion of fractured bones. It is used to treat impairment of muscles and bones, Furuncle, Neurodermatitis, and Contact Dermatitis.

DIRECTIONS: To be eaten boiled, steamed; or to be burned into charcoal and ground into powder for oral administration, or made into boluses or pills for internal use. When used externally, it is to be mashed or dried over a fire and pounded into powder and applied to the affected part after being mixed with water. Precaution should be taken by patients who manifest the symptoms of exterior syndrome, or deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach or chronic diseases due to pathogenic wind. 
Being easy to go bad, crabs should be eaten fresh.