Species sheet · The Edible River
Chinese mitten crab
Furry mittens and an autumn roe.
- Steamed, tied up, with ginger and black vinegar
- Drunken, marinated in rice wine (after cooking)
- In soup, with tofu and noodles
- In French
- Crabe chinois
- Scientific name
- Eriocheir sinensis
- Status
- Invasive species
- In the water
- A crab of the rivers and estuaries of China and Korea, living in fresh water and heading down to brackish water to spawn. Carried to Europe in ship ballast, it has settled the Elbe, the Thames, the Seine and the Gironde.
- Season & buying
- In China, autumn, when first the females and then the males fill with roe. In Europe an invasive species: eating it is encouraged, but the rules forbid transporting or selling it alive.
- Common length
- ~6 cm
- How to identify it
- Claws covered in brown hair, like mittens
Square, domed shell with a notch between the eyes
Four spines along each side of the shell
On the plate
Little meat, but a creamy roe and fat with a hazelnut flavour, eaten with a spoon.
Avoid: Boiling it hard: the legs drop off and the roe washes out; gentle steam, belly up, and never raw.
Around Shanghai, crabs from Yangcheng Lake are sold wearing a tag with a scratch-off code to prove they really come from the right lake.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
