The whitebait in Taihu Lake is about two inches long, and it is white and transparent, and it is like a Hosta. Big chopsticks are as thick as chopsticks, and small chopsticks are as thin as ballpoint pens. A pair of small black eyes embedded in a white body and a small light gray tail are really pleasing.
There is another tragic story about the origin of whitebait. It is said that after Meng Jiangnv Wanli found her husband crying down the Great Wall, Qin Shihuang took a fancy to her and sent someone to take her away as a concubine. When the sedan chair was carried to a bridge, Meng Jiangnu told the soldiers to stop the sedan chair. She got off the sedan chair, walked to the bridge and plopped into the river. Qin Shihuang was furious and ordered to be twisted with barbed wire. Meng Jiangnv's meat was twisted into bundles. Suddenly, the wisps of meat actually swam over and became glittering and translucent fish.
The season for whitebait fishing is early summer. This is a busy season. Whitebait is small, tender and perishable, so we must catch it and harvest it quickly. During the more than ten days of fishing for whitebait, fishermen worked hard day and night, and only changed their eyes for a while when they were too sleepy to stand it. In order to keep whitebait fresh, ice buckets and ice cubes were brought on the acquisition ships. The purchased whitebait is immediately put into an ice bucket, covered with ice skin, and then sent to the township cold storage for sorting, boxing and quick freezing. In this way, not only the whole country can eat fresh whitebait, but even foreigners can taste our Taihu whitebait.
Whitebait has high nutritional value and is rich in protein. It tastes fresh and tender, and people of all ages like to eat it.
There are many ways to eat whitebait. The most common way to eat is braising whitebait, which is a delicious food in the family. Steamed whitebait, white in color and delicious; Using the freshest whitebait soup can not only maintain the unique flavor of whitebait, but also have a particularly high nutritional value.
Adding some other auxiliary materials to whitebait can make dishes with different flavors: whitebait scrambled eggs, fragrant and tender; Shelley whitebait is fresh and refreshing. Fried whitebait with bread crumbs, and the dish made is the treasure of the party. The fried whitebait is like a small gold bar, which is full of fragrance and greatly increases people's appetite. It's really delicious.
We Taihu people like to chop whitebait into mud with fresh meat, or make meatball soup or wonton stuffing. That taste is really fresh, even better than the "Qingyang" wonton in Suzhou, which makes people love it more and more. Once eaten, it will be unforgettable for life.
With the reform and opening up, whitebait in Taihu Lake has become the most important export aquatic product in my hometown, exported to Taiwan Province Province, Japan and other places, and welcomed by compatriots in Taiwan Province Province and Japanese friends.
Let more people eat fresh whitebait in Taihu Lake, which is the common wish of the people in our fishing village.