阳澄湖大闸蟹

Guess. The most famous dish in Shanghai in the month of October?


阳澄湖大闸蟹 !!

Yesterday T's colleague brought us out to visit 阳澄湖 and 西山 in Suzhou for the crab eating feast. In China there are many shops selling fake 阳澄湖 crabs. What they do is to place "foreign" crabs into 阳澄湖 2 to 3 weeks before harvesting time and then claimed they are the real 阳澄湖 crab.


T colleague is a resident in Suzhou. Ｈe went to 阳澄湖 and hand picked the crabｓ from the lake and took them along to the famous 太湖 (spanning Wuxi and Suzhou） for our lunch beside the breathe-taking 太湖.

Me having the chance to lay my hands on the real stuff took the opportunity to snap snap.

阳澄湖大闸蟹 (Female are harvested earlier compared to the males. The best time for eating should be mid-end of October when it is cold. There would be more meat as the crabs are preparing themselves for winter.)


How to tell if it is the real thing? The real 阳澄湖大闸蟹 are supposed to have golden hair on their legs. Like the one in this picture.


This is a male crab which could be differentiated from the pointed shell. Note the reddish spot on the white shell. This means that there is alot of roe inside. Another way to distinguish the real 阳澄湖大闸蟹.


Voila! Look at the roe!! And considering the time is still early for the good stuff! Looking forward to end of October for the good stuff!

Taihu （太湖） so beautiful that the emperors (eg Qian Long) traveled incognito to visit (part of 江南trip）

P/S - I think the crab is very expensive. I have no idea how much it cost as someone paid for it!