Dried black herring with tea oil

Shaoxing herring water town is densely covered with ponds, with vast waters, wide rivers and deep lakes, abundant benthos and abundant bait. Culturing and producing herring has a long history, and it is known as the habit of making dried herring with tea oil. Historically, dried herring, as a famous specialty of Shaoxing, was once exported to Nanyang. In the early days of liberation, the annual output of herring was about 400 tons, accounting for 10% of the total output of freshwater fish. From the 6th century, the output of herring decreased year by year, and the annual output remained at about 100 tons. In 1987, the catch of herring was large, with a total output of 215 tons. -herring, also known as "snail green". The body shape is cylindrical, the tail is flat and the abdomen is round; The back and upper part of the body are blue-black, and the abdomen is milky white. It is one of the four major fish in China. Black herring mostly lives in the middle and lower layers of water, and doesn't like to move on the surface. Female fish grow to 4 ~ 5 years old, with a body length of 0.9 meters and a weight of about 10 kilograms, reaching sexual maturity. The spawning period is from May to July, and the eggs are light gray, heavy, fertilized and swell, and float with the water. In the seedling stage, herring feeds on zooplankton, while in the adult fish, mollusks such as snails and yellow clams are the main food. Black herring has the characteristics of fast growth (3.5 ~ 4.0 kg for the 3rd instar fish), large size (more than 50 kg), thick meat with few thorns, rich fat and delicious taste. Besides fresh food, herring is especially suitable for making dried fish. Shaoxing is famous for its dried vegetable oil herring. The production method is as follows: selecting herring weighing 20-30 Jin, cutting back, removing dirt, drying, wiping the fish body with mirabilite and salt, putting it in a salted fish vat, and pressing it with big stones. Turn over after 5 days, still press the stone, and take out the cylinder in about 10 days, or dry or bake. Apply tea oil when it is slightly dry, and air it in a ventilated place until it is "air-dried". After air drying, the dried fish is ruddy in color and looks like ham meat, which is resistant to storage and will not be bad after long storage. When eating, it is soft into pieces, sprayed with white wine, and steamed in a pot. The meat is soft and fragrant with tea oil. At present, it is still common to make dried herring sporadically in Shaoxing urban and rural areas. The restaurants in the city, such as Lanxiang Pavilion, Tongxin Building, Rongluchun and Shen Yonghe, are all processed and sold. Dried black herring with tea oil has become a high-grade gift given to relatives and friends by Shaoxing people.
Reprinted with attribution： https://cnlocality.com/(Chinese Specialty Products)