Sihui Wudou Stone Snails

Sihui Wudou Stone Snails

　　Wudou stone snails, also known as "Immortal Snails," are a specialty of Sihui. Praised by food lovers everywhere for their chewy texture and delicious flavor, they are said to be so good that “you haven’t truly been to Sihui if you haven’t tried the Immortal Snails.” These snails look similar to ordinary stone snails but are slimmer and longer, with a darker bluish-gray color. Their most distinctive feature is that the tips of their shells appear to have been cut off and then sealed with cement.

　　Legend has it that these Immortal Snails are the offspring of stone snails whose shells were cut open by Lady Wen, a virtuous maiden from the mountain, before she fled from a local ruffian nicknamed "Fatty Dog." Because Immortal Snails can only grow in clear, unpolluted mountain streams, their yield is low, making them relatively expensive. In restaurants and eateries, if the snail shells you’re served are rounder, lighter in color, and the meat inside is soft or mushy, it’s likely that the restaurant owner is trying to pass off fakes.