CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How did crayfish take over the country as the midnight snack?

How did crayfish become the most popular midnight snack in China?

This year, the quadrennial World Cup is in full swing. Beer and crayfish are the standard midnight snack for many people during the World Cup. In the hot summer, a summer without beer and crayfish is incomplete. How did crayfish gradually become the center of the midnight snack world?

How popular is crayfish?

According to the latest "China Crayfish Industry Development Report (2018)" by the Ministry of Agriculture, the total social economic output value of crayfish in my country in 2017 was about 268.5 billion yuan, an increase of 83.15% over 2016. Among them, the output value of the tertiary industry, mainly catering, was about 200 billion yuan, accounting for 74.49% of the total social economic output value.

In May, a crayfish stocking event on an e-commerce platform sold 1 million crayfish within 5 minutes of going online, a year-on-year increase of 539%. What does that mean? 1 million crayfish can cover 318 Tiananmen Squares.

Crayfish are not only popular online, but also offline. An e-commerce platform has set up offline stores in the most representative food streets such as Beijing Guijie, Shanghai Lujiazui Zhengda Plaza, Wuhan Optics Valley, Nanjing Shiziqiao, etc., and opened pop-up crayfish experience stores. On the opening day, the Internet celebrity brand Hong Gongfu sold 180,000 crayfish.

Stores all over the country

According to the results of Link's public opinion monitoring, by July 2016, except for Qinghai-Tibet, the whole country was basically occupied by crayfish. The hardest hit areas were still Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Beijing, Shanghai, various coastal areas, and the inland war zones of Sichuan, Hunan, and Hubei. But surprisingly, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, which are not fond of spicy food, also ignored the spiciness of crayfish. From this point of view, crayfish is the ultimate weapon against spiciness, not Lao Gan Ma.

Judging from the speed of opening crayfish stores across the country, it is very rapid. According to Link's public opinion monitoring results, the number of new crayfish stores in the country was only about 2,500 in 2012, and then it developed rapidly. By 2016, the number of new crayfish stores in the country reached nearly 38,000. Crayfish surpassed the average growth rate of all catering industries starting in 2012, which was also a breakthrough point for crayfish.

In terms of gender, men prefer crayfish. In terms of age distribution, the age group of crayfish consumers is mainly concentrated in the "20-39 years old", accounting for more than 80%, and the users are very young. Users aged "50 and above" account for only about 4%.

In terms of the flavors of crayfish, consumers prefer the most traditional flavors of "13 spices", "spicy" and "braised", followed by less frequently mentioned flavors such as "pepper and salt", "secret recipe", "garlic", "dry stir-fried" and "cumin".

Crayfish are mainly produced in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River

According to the "Crayfish Report", the total production of crayfish farming in China is 1.1297 million tons. Hubei Province ranks first with 631,600 tons, accounting for 55.91% of the country. Among them, Jianli County, Hubei Province, produced 110,000 tons of crayfish, making it the only county with a production of more than 100,000 tons.

In terms of aquaculture, Hubei's shrimp-rice intercropping model has evolved to version 3.0. According to the aquaculture waters, the national crayfish rice field aquaculture area was about 8.5 million mu in 2017, accounting for 70.83% of the total aquaculture area. It is understood that this model generally produces 150 kg of crayfish and 500 kg of rice per mu, with an average output value of about 5,500 yuan per mu and an average profit of about 3,000 yuan per mu. In addition, new models of crayfish aquaculture are constantly emerging, such as the "water chestnut-shrimp" model in Zhejiang Province, the "lotus root-shrimp" model in Shandong Province, the winter shrimp farming model in Hainan Province, and the off-season shrimp farming model in greenhouses in Hubei Province and Shanghai.

Crayfish are mainly produced in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The production of five major producing provinces, including Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan and Jiangxi, accounts for about 95% of the national production. Hubei Province has the largest aquaculture scale, with an aquaculture area of ​​4.87 million mu and an output of 489,000 tons in 2016, accounting for nearly 60% of the national total. In the past two years, the scale of aquaculture in Hunan Province has grown rapidly. Crayfish aquaculture in Sichuan, Chongqing, Henan, Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangxi and other provinces (regions and cities) has also gradually developed, and the aquaculture area has expanded year by year. In addition, some provinces still have fishing production.

New jobs derived from crayfish

The crayfish lovers have not only created a 100 billion yuan industry, but also supported 5.2 million people working in the industry. Behind the popular crayfish are a variety of new jobs and emotional stories of the hardships and struggles of ordinary people.

Shrimp farmers, shrimp pickers, shrimp grillers, shrimp tasters, and shrimp peelers, these are the honest daily experiences of each crayfish.

According to incomplete statistics, in 2017, there were nearly 5,000 cooperative economic organizations engaged in crayfish production and management across the country, and about 5.2 million people were employed in the entire crayfish industry chain, including nearly 1 million people engaged in the primary industry, nearly 200,000 people engaged in secondary industries such as crayfish processing, and about 100,000 crayfish distribution brokers.

Data source: China Crayfish Industry Development Report (2018),

Link Public Opinion, Tianxia Online Business, etc.

What is the difference between green lobster and red lobster?

Lobsters have a strong tolerance to hypoxia. In an oxygen-deficient environment, they can climb ashore to breathe through their gills to survive. When the pH value of the water is between 5.8 and 9 and the dissolved oxygen is lower than 1.5 mg/L, they can still survive normally. Normal growth requires dissolved oxygen to be above 3 ml/L. The stocking method with river crabs as the main species is: 400 to 600 crabs with a size of 160 per kg and 2,000 crayfish seedlings with a body length of about 3 cm are released per mu.

When stocking shrimp fry, drugs should be used for sterilization and disinfection, mainly to prevent and control water mold infection. Generally, food or anti-water mold fish medicine can be used. Then, according to the resource conditions of the pond itself, from the perspective of stocking quantity, it is generally not necessary to feed feed. The mixed crayfish in the pond are scientifically caught. In the process of lobster farming, young shrimps can generally grow to commercial specifications in 60-90 days under the condition of suitable temperature and sufficient feed. Seedlings are released in March, and rotation fishing begins around June. The big ones are sold and the small ones are kept.

River crabs will compete with crayfish for food, oxygen, and aquatic plants, and both have the habit of self-mutilation and mutual destruction. Traditional farming has always regarded lobsters as pests of crab ponds, and believes that raising lobsters in crab ponds is risky. Lobsters will eat the rotten organic matter and bait residues on the soft bottom of the pond that is molting, which can be eaten by snails. Raising snails is a good choice for ponds with poor water quality. In addition, if the snails all crawl to the side, it can be seen that the water body is lacking in oxygen, reminding you to add oxygen and water or change the bottom.

Rice-shrimp (new field) does not include the cost of rice field reconstruction and construction. Data source: Comprehensively compiled from aquatic feed and fishery medicine salesmen in Jianli County, Huanggang City, Wuxue City, Qianjiang City and Jiayu County, Hubei Province and Haida Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Research Report, for reference only. Water plants must be grown very well. If the grass is not grown well, the breeding will basically fail. That is because water plants can provide good shelter for crayfish and crabs when they molt. Once the water plants are lost, the crabs that are molting will become food for crayfish.

I think the green lobster has small claws, soft shells, and a green body, while the red lobster has large claws and a red or dark red body.

The difference between the two is that one can live in fresh water and can be artificially cultivated, while the other is not suitable for living in fresh water and is not easy to artificially cultivate. Moreover, their nutritional values ​​are quite different.

The main difference between green lobster and red lobster is that their colors are different and very easy to distinguish. Their growth and individuals are also different. Green lobster is relatively slender, while red lobster is relatively large.

The reason why crayfish are divided into red and green is that they are at different stages of growth. Animals like crayfish shed their shells once each time, and after the previous shell is removed, a new shell is born. The shell of red crayfish is harder and older, so it is a bit dirty.