First of all, the nutritional value of sea cucumber is really related to its growth years. Take northern Stichopus japonicus as an example, the maturity of bottom sowing sea cucumber is 3-5 years, while the growth period of cultured sea cucumber is often about 2 years. After the northern sea cucumber is cultured in the south, the maturity of the sea cucumber is shorter, and some of them are even less than 1 year. Cultured sea cucumber grows fast, and can grow to the size of sea cucumber for 3-5 years in a short time, but its nutritional components are completely backward.

Generally speaking, more than 3 years can be called adult ginseng. After the sea cucumber grows up, although the body shape changes slowly, it has experienced a long process of nutrient accumulation. Therefore, the longer the growth period of sea cucumber, the thicker the meat quality, the higher the nutritional value and the more precious it is.

However, sea cucumbers do not grow indefinitely. The growth period of sea cucumber is about 10- 12 years. After this period, sea cucumbers generally "die naturally". After all, sea cucumbers are not ginseng and can grow for hundreds of years. Therefore, consumers should be careful if merchants say how old their sea cucumbers are.

It should be noted that the growth period of sea cucumber can not only be seen from the appearance. After all, the cultured sea cucumbers are carefully eaten, and they can grow into bottom-sown sea cucumbers for 3-5 years in less than 1 year. In the propaganda about the growth period of sea cucumber, many businesses may not tell the truth. In particular, many vendors who set up stalls in the vegetable market or the sea cucumbers produced by unknown small workshops may be quite exaggerated.