Trepang, << trih PANG, >> is the commercial name of the dried bodies of certain species of wormlike marine animals called sea cucumbers. Trepang is also called beche-de-mer << `behsh` duh MAIR >>. Trepang is used as food primarily in the Far East. In preparing trepang, the sea cucumber’s inner parts are removed and the body is boiled in salt water. After boiling, the body is either smoked, sun dried, or roasted for five days, and then dried further. This process turns the body into the rubberlike trepang, which is used to thicken and flavor soups. The highest quality trepang is unskinned and is blackish-brown.
The chief center of the trepang industry is Makassar, a seaport of Sulawesi, in Indonesia. California also has a trepang industry.
