Hermaphrodite Frog Guts

We're eating frog guts and it's a pleasant experience. Hasma is frog ovaries, or more precisely, the fallopian tubes of the hermaphrodite frog "Rana temporaria chensinensis, which is also commonly known as the snow frog or forest frog" (according to answers.com).



Hasma in a sweet soup

This is a delicacy in China, these frog fallopians. Like shark fin soup and bird's nest, they are treasured not so much for their taste, but for their texture, their purported health qualities, and because they are expensive. Some people just like to show off their money, even if it means proving to everyone at the dining table that you can afford to dish out for frog sexual organs for lunch. You have arrived.

We, however, just ordered them because they're weird.

These aren't the only sexual organs that we've eaten in China -- check out my penis post for example -- but they are probably the most common. Every mid-range (and up) dim sum restaurant we know has them on the menu, and since they're usually consumed for dessert, there's tons of cafes and dessert joints serving up a selection of sweet soups with snow frog innards. In fact, our first experience with hamsa was at an Asian ice cream shop on Clement Street in San Francisco, where you could get the reproductive amphibian guts served on top of your scoop of vanilla.



Hasma with coconut soup

Sorry to all you Jackass or Fear Factor fans, but hasma is pretty easy to eat, and it's not macho. They don't look or taste as scary as you might be thinking. We see kids and their grandmothers chomping away at these little froggy guts all the time. Hasma is a favorite pastime of the lunching ladies crowd. They're soft and chewy and white and almost tasteless, like tapioca (the hasma, not the lunching ladies). Which is why they're popular in sweet soups, hot or cold, often with candied or stewed fruits and sugar.

You can buy dried hasma at medicine shops. What is hasma good for? Lungs, kidneys, and most famously, women's skin. See, not real macho stuff.

We just like them because after a knock-out Chinese banquet or 20-course dim sum extravaganza, these dessert soups are a nice digestif and grease-cutter. We also like the chewy texture of the hasma, combined with the slightly medicinal sweet flavorings.

We've eaten hasma (not to be confused with hamsa -- the "hand of God" -- or hasma the shoe by Stella McCartney, which features a "very light and breathable sport-inspired ballerina flat features an adjustable Velcro® ankle strap") many times actually. It goes into common dim sum desserts, and we do dim sum about 3 times a month on average.