Kaihua River Snails 开化青蛳
Kaihua River Snails is featured among the local specialties of Zhejiang.
Kaihua River Snails (开化青蛳) are a speciality of Kaihua (开化). In a 2025 essay for Shangguan News (上观新闻), Zheng Xinwei (郑信伟) describes the western Zhejiang (浙江) snails as having slender, inky-black shells and grey-green flesh, and recalls cooking them over a fierce wood fire at his family home.
A home stir-fry
In Zheng’s preparation, the shell tips are trimmed before the snails go into a hot wok with vegetable oil and chopped ginger. A quick stir-fry is followed by cooking wine, salt and water. Perilla and chilli are added when the broth is bubbling, and the snails are eaten by sucking the flesh and broth from the shells. Zheng emphasizes the strong fire as central to this preparation.
A televised local food
Kaihua News (开化新闻网) reported that the second season of A Bite of China (舌尖上的中国) devoted two minutes and fifty-two seconds to the snails. The segment also told the story of snail catcher Yu Yunshan (余云山) and his wife.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.