Xuyi Crayfish 盱眙龙虾

Xuyi Crayfish (盱眙龙虾) is the crayfish of Xuyi County (盱眙县) in Huai'an (淮安), Jiangsu, which grows and breeds in the county's own rivers, lakes and ponds and is cooked with a specially made thirteen-spice seasoning, shisanxiang (十三香).

Where it comes from

The crayfish grow and breed mostly in the rivers, lakes and ponds inside Xuyi County, including Douhu Lake (陡湖), Hongze Lake (洪泽湖) and Tianquan Lake (天泉湖). Li Yehong (李叶红), a Xuyi-born deputy to the National People's Congress, writes in the Procuratorate Daily (检察日报) that these waters have plenty of the water plants and algae that suit crayfish, and credits them for the crayfish's bright red, glossy colour, clean shells and tender, plump flesh.

A protected name

Xuyi Crayfish is a registered and protected name as well as a dish. According to a note published by the National Development and Reform Commission, Xuyi's live crayfish were certified as a "green food" by the Ministry of Agriculture's Green Food Development Center in 2003, and in 2004 the name became China's first animal-product certification trademark of origin. A local standard for Xuyi Crayfish followed in 2007, published by the Jiangsu Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision. In June 2009 the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine granted it geographical-indication product protection, and in 2015 a well-known geographical-indication trademark was approved for the non-live product. Xuyi County has also been named China's crayfish capital (中国龙虾之都) and the country's only export base for live crayfish.

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Xuyi Crayfish 盱眙小龙虾 →

The same Xuyi crayfish, catalogued under the name 盱眙小龙虾, with the county's water-protection patrols and its international crayfish festival.