River snails and freshwater mussels sell well on the market, seasonal local specialty aquatic products are favored

Yesterday was Qingming Festival. At major farmers' markets in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, river snails, field snails and freshwater mussels became the local specialty aquatic products snapped up by the "market aunties," who rushed to get a taste of the season's freshness.

"River snails with green shells are 2 yuan per jin, shelled river snail meat picked out with a bamboo skewer is 12 yuan per jin; field snails are 4 yuan per jin." Yesterday morning, in the aquatic products section of Huangshan Farmers' Market, a vendor surnamed Sun from Huai'an kept quoting the current Qingming river snail prices to customers asking about prices. She told reporters that Qingming Festival is the best time of year to taste river snails, and there is a local saying in Zhenjiang that "Qingming river snails are as plump as geese." After a winter of rest and growth, river snails in early spring not only have more meat but also taste plump and delicious, while after a while longer many young snails will hide inside the shells. Her aquatic products counter can sell 30 jin of picked river snail meat and more than 40 jin of shell-on river snails a day, with daily sales more than doubling compared with usual.

There really are quite a few "market aunties" rushing to buy Qingming river snails for a fresh taste during Qingming Festival. These past two days, resident Ms. Wang has bought a batch of shell-on river snails every day, clipped off the tail shells and stir-fried them with soy sauce, five-spice powder and star anise, so the whole family can gather around the table and suck the snails; or she picks out the snail meat and stir-fries it with chives, also making a fragrant and refreshing seasonal dish.

At major vegetable markets, freshwater mussels are also a popular seasonal local specialty aquatic product. In the aquatic products section of one vegetable market, the reporter saw a steady stream of customers asking about freshwater mussels. The vendor gently drew a blade along the seam of the mussel shell and slid out the pale yellow mussel meat. At present, cut freshwater mussel meat is 2.5-3 yuan/jin, and shell-on freshwater mussels are 1 yuan/jin.

The strong sales of local specialty aquatic products such as Qingming river snails and freshwater mussels have also driven the turnover of vegetables that can be paired with them. It is understood that local chives and foreign chives for stir-frying river snails sell for 2.5 yuan/jin and 1.5 yuan/jin respectively. The current prices of green vegetable shoots, three-leaf vegetables and arrowhead, cooked together with freshwater mussels, are 1.5 yuan/jin, 3 yuan/jin and 2.5 yuan/jin respectively.