Recently, it happens to be the season for catching and selling the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs in Suzhou. The market has seen a wave of eating crabs. Gourmet experts from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have also smelled the crab fragrance, seized the opportunity, and flocked to Suzhou. As a result, the rural tourism sites in Suzhou are bustling with visitors. Nowadays, there are many varieties of crabs, such as hairy crabs, swimming crabs, sea crabs, and Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. There are also various ways of cooking hairy crabs, such as steaming, boiling, soy sauce crabs, and mysterious crabs. From September to January of the following year, if we were to say who is the most popular crab, then none other than the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs!
Suzhou is leading the country in protecting the aquatic product brand of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs.
Relevant regulations from government departments and industry associations are emerging one after another, with unprecedented intensity. Recently, the "Regulations on the Protection of Geographical Indication Products of Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs in Suzhou" was issued, showing the strong efforts in maintaining and developing the original place brand of Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs in Suzhou.
Citizens will have a feast of taste when eating Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs this year.
Shanghai residents will have a feast of taste when eating Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs this year. This is because the last molting of the hairy crabs at the Yangcheng Lake breeding base has been basically completed, and they are just waiting to be caught after the Mid-Autumn Festival for people to eat. Unlike last year when two liang crabs could make an appearance, due to suitable climate, the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs are growing particularly well this year, and crabs weighing more than three liang will become the main players. However, the price is also expected to rise accordingly, with an estimated increase of 20%.
More than half of the crabs weigh three liang for females and four liang for males.
Many Shanghai residents may still remember that last year's Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs were quite small. But this year's climate is very suitable for the growth of hairy crabs. The early drought season caused the lake water level to drop sharply, allowing sunlight to shine directly on the crab seedlings, which stimulated their growth. In addition, the underwater grasses at the bottom of Yangcheng Lake grew well this year, not only purifying the water quality but also providing abundant bait for the hairy crabs. Therefore, although the breeding scale is not expected to increase this year, the total weight will definitely rise. Some breeders even found that there were no crabs weighing less than two liang in a single crab pond.
Crab fishing will begin after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
We will definitely not be able to eat authentic Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year. However, it has been confirmed that the first batch of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs will be caught on September 17th, five days after the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 12th.
In the annual crab fishing season at Yangcheng Lake, it is the first time that the crabs will be listed after the Mid-Autumn Festival. To determine this date, the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Industry Association of Suzhou sent out inquiries to more than 100 enterprises, and half of them agreed for the first time.
This year, the crabs are growing so well that if they are not fully mature, it would only result in losses if they are released too early. The price of hairy crabs this year is not cheap. The price of crab seedlings has risen from 1 yuan per tail to 1.5 yuan, the price of feed corn has increased from 0.9 yuan per jin to 1.5 yuan, and labor costs have risen from 25,000 yuan per year to 30,000 yuan. It is not surprising that the price of hairy crabs has risen accordingly.
If you see crabs wearing rings in stores, they must be fake.
Industry insiders also admitted that although Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs have made many efforts in anti-counterfeiting, the entire industry is still mixed with good and bad products.
The main anti-counterfeiting measure for Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs this year is still wearing rings. Relevant departments have set up eight transaction supervision sites around the lake, where the harvested hairy crabs are uniformly marked with anti-counterfeiting labels. Therefore, if you see crabs being fitted with rings on-site in stores in Shanghai, or if you are given rings when buying crabs, then without a doubt, they are counterfeit Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs.