When do Taihu crabs go on the market? A full breakdown of the season

Taihu crab is a crab species that grows in the waters of Taihu Lake and is a specialty industry of Wuxing District, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is deeply loved by people for its rich roe and tender meat. So when is the Taihu crab season?

1. When is the Taihu crab season?

The Taihu crab season runs from Cold Dew to the Start of Winter. Generally, female crabs are eaten in the ninth lunar month, and male crabs in the tenth lunar month. Traditional ways of eating them include steaming, boiling, batter-frying, wine-soaking, and pickling. After the meat is picked out, it can also be made into famous dishes such as crab meat lion's head meatballs, peacock shrimp and crab, crab oil crystal balls, stir-fried crab roe, and crab roe soup dumplings.

2. How big are Taihu crabs?

Generally, female Taihu hairy crabs weigh around 2-4 liang, and those under 2 liang are basically never sold on the hairy crab retail market. In the hairy crab harvest season, those under 2 liang are old crabs and are usually only sent to restaurants to make dishes using small crabs. Female crabs over 4 liang are very rare; you might pick out only one from 100. So the price of Taihu hairy crabs over 4 liang is also frighteningly high.

Male Taihu hairy crabs generally weigh around 3-5 liang. Male crabs under 3 liang have little meat and are generally not sold at retail on the market. Male crabs over 5 liang are just as rare as female crabs over 4 liang. This is because Taihu hairy crabs basically all grow in a wild environment, with no hormones and no pollution, and they come on the market a bit later than hairy crabs from several other places, but they are slightly smaller in size. So the price of Taihu hairy crabs over 5 liang is naturally also very high. Generally, a pair of a 4-liang female crab and a 5-liang male crab sells for more than 250 yuan. Prices for sizes above this are even higher.

Of course, every year among all Taihu hairy crabs there are some specially priced crab kings, with weights reaching 8 liang to more than 1 jin. These may be old crabs missed from the previous year, and their vitality is extremely strong. In summary, the size of Taihu hairy crabs is generally 2-4 liang for females and 3-5 liang for males. Crabs below these weights are not recommended for purchase. If crabs above this size are low-priced, then you should question it. Generally, the most cost-effective way to eat crabs is male at 4 liang and female at 3 liang.