Xishi Tongue: A Millennium Journey from a Beauty Legend to a Delicacy

The sashimi belongs to the phylum Mollusca, class Bivalvia, order Clamidae, commonly known as sea clam, red egg, sand clam, and is a bivalve economic mollusk. It is shaped like a sea clam, with a slightly triangular shell and a smooth, purple-red shell surface. It likes to live in the fine sand or muddy sea near the low tide line to the shallow sea at a depth of about 10 meters. It usually likes to live buried, and the habitat depth can reach 6 to 7 cm. It is relatively large, generally weighing about 50 to 150 grams, and the larger ones can weigh more than 250 grams. The sashimi is given this wonderful name because of its beautiful appearance. When the wind is calm, it often opens its shell and spits out its white and tender "flesh tongue", which is very beautiful.

The Chinese tongue is distributed in Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and other provinces in my country, with more resources in Fujian and Guangdong. The growth rate of the Chinese tongue is relatively fast. According to relevant trial breeding experience, the cultivation and proliferation of the Chinese tongue currently mainly use wild seedlings, and the methods include pond breeding, piling and enclosure breeding, and transplanting seedlings in shallow seas for proliferation. In recent years, due to marine pollution and overfishing, the natural resources of the Chinese tongue are on the verge of extinction, and it is difficult to see them in the markets of Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hainan and other places. Therefore, in addition to actively carrying out resource reproduction and protection work in coastal areas, especially in areas with resources, places with conditions should vigorously carry out artificial proliferation and breeding, and pay attention to seedling breeding and cultivation work to solve the problem of seedlings needed for development.

Folk legends have endowed Xishi tongue with multiple cultural images: one says that after the Kingdom of Yue conquered the Kingdom of Wu, Xishi was drowned in the river and her spirit turned into a shellfish, and the "flesh tongue" she uttered was her last words; another says that when Xishi followed Fan Li on a boat trip across the five lakes, she ate shellfish meat and praised it as "more delicious than the taste of the tongue", hence the name. Although these legends have no historical basis, they reflect the people's eternal remembrance of the tragic beauty.

The meat of the tongue is tender and crisp, and its taste is sweet. It has high nutritional and edible value. It is comparable to abalone among shellfish. It is one of the marine treasures and is known as the "first of marine treasures". It contains rich protein, vitamins, various minerals, essential amino acids and other nutrients. After eating, it will leave a lingering fragrance in the teeth and cheeks, so it has a long-standing reputation among marine delicacies.

From the sad and beautiful legends in the wars of Wu and Yue to the health-preserving delicacies on modern tables, Xishi tongue carries not only the wonders of nature, but also the eternal exploration of the ocean by Chinese civilization. When we taste this delicious taste that transcends time and space, perhaps we should think more about: how can we protect the reproduction and survival of these blue elves while enjoying the gifts of the ocean? After all, true deliciousness is always built on the cornerstone of ecological balance.

Salt-baked tongue

Ingredients: 250g of shishi tongue, 500g of coarse salt, some ginger, some star anise

Production steps

1. Put the tongue of Xishi in salt water to spit out the sand for more than 2 hours, wash it with clean water, and let it stand for 10 minutes for later use;

2. Pour coarse salt into the hot pan, add star anise and ginger, stir-fry until fragrant and golden, then put into the baking tray;

3. Place the dried shaved pork on a baking tray with the opening facing up and the back facing down, then bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes.

References:

[1] Zhou Tingting. Delicious Xishi Tongue[J]. Family Life.

[2] Zhang Lin. Yu Dafu’s beautiful essay “Xi Shi Tongue”[J]. Cultural Events.

[3] Chen Feng. A precious species of marine aquaculture - Xishi tongue[J]. Farmer's Friend.

[4] Meng Xueping. Analysis and evaluation of nutritional components of Xishi tongue[J]. Research report.

[5] Zhao Sida. Precious seafood species - Xishi tongue[J]. Rural omnivore.