Eight-Fork Salted Eggs

Eight-Fork Salted Eggs

　　Wujiang’s Eight-Fork is also known as the hometown of salted duck eggs, offering a variety of types such as five-spice cooked salted eggs, red-heart cooked salted eggs, and double-yolk health salted eggs.

　　　　According to the customs of Wujiang, on the day of “Lixia” (Start of Summer), children are supposed to wear a small net pouch woven from colorful silk threads, containing a salted duck egg, tied around their chest. The word “duck” (鸭) sounds like “suppress” (压), so wearing a salted egg is believed to suppress evil and prevent illness, as well as to keep one’s weight from dropping.

　　　　High-quality salted duck eggs have a clean, smooth, and round shell that is bluish-green in color. The egg white is pure white and firm, with moderate saltiness, rich oil content, and delicious taste. When picked with chopsticks, buttery yolk fat oozes out. The yolk has a fine, sandy texture and is layered from light to dark, growing redder toward the center. There is no hard core in the middle, and the flavor is rich and savory.