HAIRY CRABS A MUST-HAVE FOR FALL HOLIDAYS
National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival treat is enjoyed across the country
Fall is the best season to eat hairy crabs, as they are the most fertile and tasty at that time of the year. “Jiangsu province hairy crabs are famous for their big size and silky, egg-yolk orange crab roe,” said Wang Xue, a postgraduate of Nanjing University. “It’s a must-try in fall when you travel in Jiangsu.”
The female crabs usually ripen and taste best in September of the Chinese lunar calendar and the males in October of the lunar calendar.
There are different kinds of ways to cook the crabs: steaming, sauteing in hot spicy sauce and even making deviled crabs. Sometimes the crabs are put into porridge or eaten with noodles in South and East China.
Many Chinese like the crabs’ soft and sweet meat, and their rich and smooth roe. But the culinary traditions vary in different provinces.
People in Sichuan province prefer spicy crabs cooked the local way. In Chaoshan, Fujian province, people prefer crabs cooked with lots of sugar. In regions south of the Yangtze River, such as Shanghai and Jiangsu, people are proud of their steamed dumplings filled with crab roe.
The Chinese custom of eating crabs can be dated back to the Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-256 BC). Many famous Chinese writers have expressed their love for hairy crabs in their works, including Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and My Country and My People by Lin Yutang in modern China.
Liang Shiqiu, a famous Chinese writer, wrote in one of his books that, “Chinese hairy crabs are fabulous and favored by both the elegant and vulgar people in the South and the North.”
Hairy crabs are native to the rivers, estuaries and other coastal habitats of eastern Asia, from the Korean Peninsula in the north to China’s Fujian province in the south.
The crabs in Yangcheng Lake are the most famous and sell very well across the country. Though the Yangcheng Lake crabs are more expensive than other crabs, many people buy them for National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival.
The many ways of purchasing the crabs have also helped to boost the crab market. The modern optimized cold chain distribution network means people can buy the crabs online. It only takes one or two days to deliver fresh crabs out of the water to many cities across the country.
Liu Maomao contributed to this story.