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Written by Wei Shuihua Header Image | Who is the most Chinese? In Chinese, "蟹" is a very interesting word. Its prototype is "xie", a kind of auspicious animal that looks like a sheep. Due to the crab's arthropod appearance, the Chinese also believe that it is a kind of insect. "蠏" and the subsequent "蟹" came from this.
On the one hand, due to the ugly and scary appearance of crabs, they are labeled as "worms". On the other hand, Chinese people admire fish and mutton as "fresh" and mutton as "beautiful". Everything related to mutton has a metaphor of being delicious. Mr. Lu Xun said that "the first person to eat crabs is a warrior", which includes this complex psychology of conquering ugliness and horror and finally getting deliciousness.
In China, a country with a vast territory and a long river system, crabs have always been the ultimate pursuit of exploration and deliciousness for Oriental people; and in this country that is deeply tied to farming, freshwater crabs have an outstanding status: in most people's impressions, seafood is always tastier than freshwater aquatic products. Crucian carp, grass carp, carp, how can they compare to grouper, nine-spined perch, and yellow croaker? Hairy crabs seem to be the only exception. No matter how delicious swimming crabs, blue crabs, and butter crabs are, no one can replace the status of hairy crabs. "If Yangcheng Lake crabs are not good, why live in Suzhou?" Since a long time ago, when the autumn wind blows, tasting crabs is not only a seasonal flavor for food lovers, but also a label for gourmets to show their experience and taste, and it is also the endless yearning of the people of the ancient oriental country for the beauty of the tip of the tongue. No.1 On September 22, Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs were officially launched for sale. Among all the sales platforms, Tmall once again took the lead. The first basket of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs was sold in the 10 billion subsidy live broadcast room, becoming the benchmark flavor of golden autumn food. Why do people pursue hairy crabs more than many other seafoods that are difficult to catch and rarer than normal? In fact, the Chinese have a long history of eating this crab, whose scientific name is "Chinese mitten crab". As early as the 5th century AD, the historical records of the Southern Dynasty recorded the poem of Bi Zha, a famous scholar at that time, drinking and eating crabs: "Holding the wine cup in the left hand, holding the crab claw in the right hand, patting the belly and drinking until the wine penetrates, it is enough for two lifetimes." The poem is a bit rough, but holding the claw and drinking, the state of being slightly drunk and happy, has led the dietary style of literati and scholars for thousands of years. The Yangtze River Delta region, as the political and cultural center and geographical base of the Southern Dynasty, is no accident for the fashion of Chinese mitten crabs to be born here.
Crabs are not purely freshwater fish. "Migratory" is a label that many people are unaware of.
When young, hairy crabs are hatched and born in the seawater or brackish water at the mouth of a river, and live a planktonic life. The rich algae and microorganisms in the seawater provide sufficient food and a relatively safe growth environment for the crabs. As the crabs grow larger, based on their instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm, hairy crabs will swim upstream and live in the freshwater environment of lakes with fewer natural enemies - this is also the reason why the Yangtze River Basin is naturally more suitable for hairy crabs than rivers such as the Yellow River and the Liaohe River. The abundant water resources and dense water network make it easier for young crabs to find lakes with gentle currents and simple food chains when swimming upstream. This is also the reason why crabs in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are of the highest quality: compared with crabs that have long been tired and thin after migrating thousands of miles to the middle reaches, only crabs with strong survival ability and strong individuals can occupy the most labor-saving places in the lower reaches and settle. Yangcheng Lake is the largest lake in the Yangtze River Delta region that is closest to the main stream and estuary of the Yangtze River. The so-called "big gate" refers to the artificial sluice built to prevent lake water and fish in the lake from flowing into the Yangtze River waterway. Only those strong crabs can cross the sluice during migration and settle in freshwater lakes. Therefore, hairy crabs are not a species, but a convention to describe the superior products among Chinese mitten crabs. Although due to the different osmotic pressures of freshwater and salt water, the different growth cycles of seafood and river food, and the different lengths and complexities of the food chain, freshwater aquatic products do have differences in the accumulation of flavor substances, the complexity of amino acids, and the taste of meat. But the Chinese mitten crab has never been a pure freshwater aquatic product: as a migratory organism, it has both the subtle freshness of freshwater and seawater; and as a "superior product" in the population, it is naturally more edible than other similar species.
No.2 After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Chinese literati culture reached new heights again and again. The status of lake crabs also rose, and a large number of poems and lyrics about crabs appeared.
Su Shi said: "It's laughable that the greedy governor of Wuzhong exchanged two crabs for a poem." He mocked himself for exchanging poems for crabs. Huang Tingjian said: "Seafood is sweet and crabs are fat, and river wine is mellow. I always regret that I am not satisfied, and boast that my teeth are salivating." I eat crabs so much that I doubt my life. Why do I never get tired of eating crabs? Lu You said: "When the crab roe is split open, my saliva falls, and when the wine is poured out, my old eyes are bright." He ate crabs so much that his senile cataracts were cured. And so on, too many to list. Phrases such as "inlaid with gold", "fat cream" and "tender jade" to describe crab roe, crab paste and crab meat have even become high-frequency words in the poems and essays of literati after the Song Dynasty.
Li Yu, who lived in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, elevated eating lake crabs to a level of worship similar to religious belief. He said that crabs were his life. Every year before lake crabs were on the market, he would prepare money to buy crabs, and called it "money to buy life." Crabs cannot be boiled, fried, or added with seasonings or side dishes. They can only be steamed and eaten by themselves. With the unremitting hype of literati, the price of lake crabs had reached a sky-high level by the Qing Dynasty. In "Dream of Red Mansions," on the one hand, the scenes of young men and young ladies steaming crabs, holding crab claws, drinking, and reciting poems were described tirelessly. On the other hand, it was written that Granny Liu witnessed that the cost of a lake crab feast in the Grand View Garden was "equivalent to the food and clothing expenses of a poor family for a whole year."
The rising value of this kind of crab has directly boosted the hairy crab farming industry. Contrary to what many people imagine, farmed hairy crabs have a low mortality rate, thick meat, abundant crab roe and crab paste, and stable quality. In fact, they have higher edible value than wild crabs, which vary in quality. The delivery of crab seedlings is the best way to replace natural migration and a shortcut to improve the level of hairy crab farming. It is not difficult to artificially simulate the migratory environment: first, raise the crab seedlings and crab seeds in the brackish waters at the mouth of rivers and then release them into inland lakes.
Overnight, high-quality hairy crabs appeared in the Pearl River, Yellow River, and Liaohe River basins. A more extreme example is that in the era of developed air logistics, Dianchi Lake in Yunnan, Huanglong in northern Shaanxi, Linze in Gansu, Keluk Lake in Qinghai, and even Balikun in Xinjiang, where crabs were originally impossible to appear, have all begun to sell "local specialty" hairy crabs. In the final analysis, the cost of air transportation is not high, and the short time interval will not affect the survival of hairy crab seedlings. On the contrary, hairy crabs from different regions are increasingly conveniently delivered to the mouths of crab lovers across the country through Internet platforms. For example, on Tmall, we can buy these interesting Liao crabs, Yellow River crabs, and inland crabs. High-quality hairy crabs from Hongze Lake, Taihu Lake, Gaoyou Lake, the mouth of the Yellow River, Gucheng Lake, Changdang Lake, Xinghua, and Luoma Lake in Jiangsu are popular on Tmall. Data shows that in 2020, the overall sales of Hongze Lake hairy crabs on Tmall increased by 118% year-on-year, and the sales of Gucheng Lake hairy crabs increased by nearly 80%.
The nourishment from different water and soil, different temperatures, and different ecological communities gives these crabs subtle differences in taste, which also reflects the Chinese people's endless exploration of the deliciousness of crabs. No.3 Today, the hairy crabs from the Yangtze River Delta region occupy the top position in the country in terms of production, quality and brand building, far ahead of all other crabs from other places. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that the Yangtze River Delta region has a subtropical marine monsoon climate with four distinct seasons and a stable growth cycle for crabs; the water body has sufficient organic matter and the crab meat is plump; the bottoms of lakes such as Gaoyou Lake, Gucheng Lake and Yangcheng Lake have hardened areas instead of silt, which allows hairy crabs to crawl more, have tougher meat, and are cleaner with less mud.
But most importantly, the history of hairy crab trade distribution over several decades and hundreds of years has given the Yangtze River Delta region the most complete production and breeding system, the most scientific packaging and preservation technology, the most stringent selection and grading standards, and the most sound logistics turnover foundation. Every year during the crab season, countless hairy crabs of different sizes, appearances, and grades are selected and packaged layer by layer on the land filled with the aroma of crabs, and sold all over the country. And the crab-eating gourmets across the country will in turn strengthen their impression of "the quality of crabs in the Yangtze River Delta" and put forward higher requirements for the local hairy crab industry. A virtuous cycle, the better it gets.
The relevant person in charge of Tmall said that in order to allow consumers to eat more high-quality crabs, Tmall plans to continue to reach strategic cooperation with the governments, associations, and merchants of major crab-selecting areas to jointly establish hairy crab standards, so that high-quality crabs are more valuable, get rid of the bad money driving out the good money in the low-price competition environment, and create a healthier positive cycle for the hairy crab farming industry. On today's Tmall platform, we can easily find hairy crabs from Taihu Lake, Hongze Lake, Gaoyou Lake, Gucheng Lake, Shajiabang and Yangcheng Lake. Although the origin is slightly different, they also have excellent quality. They represent the highest quality of Chinese hairy crabs, and the most delicious food worth a kiss in autumn Chinese cuisine.
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This is an old photo that is popular on the Internet, with the title "During the Republic of China period, poor people in Shanghai ate hairy crabs to satisfy their hunger."
Although the reliability of this picture is questionable, one thing is certain: for people of that era, hairy crabs, which have concentrated production areas, short production cycles, and difficult transportation and preservation, are not a food with regional balance. When crab farmers in large production areas cannot sell all their crabs and cannot keep them alive, many will choose to eat them themselves so as not to waste the good taste of hairy crabs. After the sales of high-quality crabs are opened, crab farmers have an extra layer of certainty. The iteration of crab breeding technology and the e-commerce logistics innovation led by Tmall have changed the ecology of hairy crabs. Today, there is no need to travel thousands of miles to Yangcheng Lake to pursue "freshness". You only need to simply order from Tmall to harvest the most authentic and fresh local specialties in the first place. This shows the platform advantages of Tmall, and it also shows the tongue bonus given to every foodie by the times, and the taste and civilization of the ancient Chinese country that keeps pace with the times and has a long history. |
