It is a kind of folklore, "nine female and ten male", meaning September of the lunar calendar to eat female hairy crabs, October of the lunar calendar to eat male hairy crabs, because at that time of hairy crabs crab yolk and crab meat is the best.

Male crabs are usually marketed at the end of September in the lunar calendar, and by mid-October the crab meat is the most fertile, and at this time the female crabs are basically all egg-laying, so the female crabs have consumed all the crab yolks, including the crab meat is not very fat, and male crabs are just full of crab meat and are very suitable for consumption.

Hairy crabs start to go on sale after the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, and it is the female crabs that are sold. September is the time when the female crabs are the most fertile, and the crabmeat and crab yolks are very suitable for the female crabs to be consumed at the best time, so it's the best time for the female crabs to be consumed in September.

The hairy crabs in these two months are the most fertile, and the crab meat of the male crabs at this time is full and fresh. This is the time when the crabs are the most tender and large, when the crab paste is the most abundant, and the crab meat is rich in nutrients, so the crabs at this time are very favorable to us.

Because in the fall, the climate gradually changes from cool to cold, and in the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the ovaries of female crabs grow into crab roe in preparation for winter and the need to reproduce and give birth in the coming year,. At this time, peel off the crab shells, you can see a lot of yellow, sticky stuff among the shells and crabs, that is the raw crab yolk. When cooked, the yolk turns red, and the redder the yolk, the stronger the crab.

Male crabs grow a little slower, and it's only in the tenth month of the lunar calendar that their fat gradually builds up, and when you peel off their shells, all you see is white, sticky stuff, which is crab paste. When cooked, the more crab paste there is, the stronger the male crab is.