Features
Monday, 02 November 2009 05:11
Written by Hailey Meng

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The Chinese have an age-old saying: “September for ovals and October for triangles.” This isn’t a geometry lesson. It’s advice for picking out hairy crabs. Flip a crab on its back and you’ll understand the meaning. Crabs have a distinct flap on their undercarriage, called an apron,  that immediately identifies their sex. A female apron is wide and oval-shaped while a male’s is more triangular – almost phallic (see above image). This year, October is technically November according to the Chinese lunar calendar. Either way, it’s the spawning season for the crabs, so by now they’ve stocked up on calories in preparation for their crawl to the Yangtze. This means they are bigger and sweeter. They’ve also stocked up on gao, a deliciously rich, semi-firm lump of off-white goo which, as it happens, is the crab’s semen. Now we know what you are thinking: eugh! But it really is the best bit. Trust us, once you go spunk, you’ll never go back.

How to pick them
As mentioned, look for the triangular apron on the belly. Healthy crabs will blow bubbles from their mouths and will retract their eyestalks if you dare try poking them. Pick the ones with hard glossy green shells and white-ish abdomens.

How to eat them
Steam them until the shells turn orange, remove the apron and open the shell. Scrape away the gills. Break it open from the midline and dip the meat into ginger-laced black vinegar sauce. Suck all the meat, juices and, um, semen into your mouth. If you’re still craving more, you can salvage some meat from the legs.

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