Seafood · FFET10436
Edible jellyfish (haizhe)
Salt-and-alum-cured jellyfish is usually served cold, with a crisp, springy bite from its bell and arms.
Sea fish, shellfish, sea cucumber, seaweed and the dried foods of the sea.
Edible jellyfish is seafood eaten in coastal areas; its bell and arms have a crisp, springy texture. It is usually treated with salt and alum before sale, then desalted for eating and most often served cold with dressing.
What
Haizhe comes from edible jellyfish. The bell and arms are eaten, commonly cold with dressing.1,2
When
Historical accounts describe boiling jellyfish and serving it with ginger and vinegar, but they do not establish the earliest year it was eaten.1,2,3
Where
Jellyfish is part of coastal Chinese food traditions, and a historical account places its production in the East China Sea.1,3
How
Jellyfish is usually treated with salt and alum, then desalted and dressed for cold serving. Production in China also includes rearing larvae in ponds and releasing juveniles.1,2,3
Why
Jellyfish is distinctive for its crisp, springy texture.2
Impact and influence
Jellyfish is a common cold-dressed ingredient on the Chinese coast. One claim puts its use as food at more than 1,700 years, but the available material gives no checkable early text for it.2,3