Freshwater Fish, Shrimp and Shellfish · FFET10488
Crayfish (xiaolongxia)
Crayfish is often cooked with numbing, spicy seasoning; Xuyi also has a thirteen-spice preparation.
Fish, shrimp, crab and molluscs from rivers, lakes and ponds.
As a food ingredient, xiaolongxia mainly refers to Procambarus clarkii, a freshwater crayfish often cooked whole with numbing, spicy seasoning. It is farmed in ponds and rice fields, and Xuyi in Jiangsu also has a preparation seasoned with a thirteen-spice blend.
What
Xiaolongxia is a freshwater food ingredient, mainly referring to Procambarus clarkii. This species is the main ingredient in mala crayfish, a dish with numbing, spicy seasoning.1,2
When
Procambarus clarkii is an introduced species in China. A second-hand account places its transfer from Japan to the Nanjing area in 1929, but no primary text was available to substantiate that date, and the account does not identify who introduced it.1
Where
A reference account states that national crayfish output in 2017 was about 1.1297 million metric tons, with Hubei accounting for about 55.91 percent and the top five provinces together for 96.91 percent. Xuyi in Jiangsu was an early center of the crayfish industry.1,3
How
Crayfish is farmed in ponds and rice fields; farming in Xuyi includes raising crayfish alongside rice. In the kitchen, it is often cooked whole with numbing, spicy seasoning.1,3
Why
Seasoning is a distinctive part of crayfish preparations: numbing, spicy flavors are common, while Xuyi also has a version using a thirteen-spice blend.1
Impact and influence
An October 2024 report states that Xuyi has 975,000 mu of crayfish farming area, including 775,000 mu of rice-crayfish fields, producing about 125,000 metric tons a year, in an industry developed over more than twenty years. Reports state that Qianjiang crayfish became a national agricultural geographical indication product in 2013 and that the Xuyi crayfish brand has ranked among the leading national geographical indication regional brands for nine years running; the official notices were not opened.3,4