Jinhu Leisure Agriculture Area

Fish farms appear one after another in front of me and they are in the rustling wind that tastes slightly salty; here visitors can catch shrimps or Geloina erosa, and taste seafood cuisines. The fishing village is nurtured by the ocean and full of fun!

Fish, shrimps and shells growing in the fish farm are the greatest asset of Jinhu Leisure Agriculture Area, and they invigorate the sea side village and attract visitors. No matter it is taking the raft trip in the fish farm, getting into the water for clam digging and shrimp catching as well as savoring the seafood or going shopping the mullet roe and opening the clams, these experiential activities all give visitors great chances to have a closer look at the lifestyle, learn the ecological aquaculture for sustainability and relish local and fresh seafood.

Fuzheng LEE and his junior high school classmates run Good Shrimp Coop in hope to provide quality shrimps.

Eating Good Shrimps, Listening to Good Shrimps and Catching Good shrimps
Young men from the fishing or farming families either leave their hometown to make a living or find a way to stay and settle. Fuzheng LEE, founder of “Good Shrimp Coop” had a spontaneous idea “to raise freshwater shrimps indoors” when having BBQ with his junior high school classmates in a pigsty. “Indoor shrimp farming is least damaged by catastrophes.” They acted on this idea and these 8 big boys worked together enthusiastically and passionately even if their seniors weren’t optimistic about their move, which embarrassed them. But they use low-density ecological aquaculture to raise Epinephelus lanceolatus, tilapia, milk fish, spotted butt, Grey mullet, shrimp and turtle, all in the pond. An ecologically balanced food chain is formed and they successfully raise quality shrimps.
“Come on! Let me cook you shrimps!” LEE greeted visitors passionately and he skillfully put the shrimps into the pot and placed the lid over it. In a short while, the smell of shrimps was emanating and everyone couldn’t wait to peel the shell off and taste the shrimp while it was fresh. The fleshy body and chewy texture are indeed good that the shrimp tastes fresh and sweet. After eating shrimps, visitors can go catching shrimps with LEE, and he will give an introduction on raising shrimps. Eating good shrimps, listening to good shrimps and catching good shrimps are their creative slogan for their experiential activity.

The aquatic products in Jinhu Leisure Agriculture Area are very diversified and there are shrimps and fish. “Minghu Seafood Store” is famous for its Epinephelus lanceolatus cuisines. The boss, Minghong CHEN is good at cooking and his dishes are well acclaimed that his friends encouraged him to open a restaurant whose signature dish is “Epinephelus lanceolatus healthy hot pot”. He stews the soup with fish bones and adds plenty of fresh mushrooms and clams for the aroma and sweetness, then he dips the fleshy fish in the pot to cook it. The fish texture is tender, the taste is sweet and the skin is rich in collagen. In addition, CHEN uses different ways of cooking to make 3-cup fish head or roast fish to give various mouth feels, flavors and tastes. Local oysters and white shrimps produced in Kouhu Township are also served that will definitely satisfy foodies’ palates.

The chef in Minghu Seafood Restaurant is skillful at cooking and he enhances the mouth feels and flavors of dishes in Minghu Seafood Restaurant.

Mullet roe is a great gift and tasty food for feasts on Chinese holidays. Huanyi ZHENG, nicknamed “Uncle Mullet”, found the lack of oceanic resources so he developed onshore mullet farming technology. In this way, he doesn’t have to outsource the work and he can take care of the production and food processing by himself. He also launched the product series “One Bite” to turn mullet roe from dishes on dining tables into snacks. From winter solstice to February in the next year is the mullet roe processing period, the time when visitors coming to “Uncle Mullet’s Home” can have a look at the manufacturing process of mullet roe. But if you come in other months, Uncle Mullet will still enthusiastically introduce how to make mullet roe and visitors are welcome to roast mullet roe on their own. There are tips preparing mullet roe! Pour sorghum liquor into the saucer and light the fire before roasting the whole piece of mullet roe over the fire. Roast till the surface of two sides are brown, then slice it into pieces to serve. Uncle Mullet has great research and development capabilities that he used beeswax to cover the mullet roe to keep its flavor and leave it age in the germ-free room. His “Beeswax Mullet Roe” was awarded the silver medal of creative food in the Taipei International Food Show 2017. And in the future, he is going to launch a mullet roe product that doesn’t require cold storage. This will be a breakthrough and a move forward to the international market.

“Uncle Mullet”, Huangyi ZHENG has followed his father in the fish farming and mullet roe processing business since he was a child; therefore, he is very skilled in making mullet roe.

Uncle Mullet’s Home offers teaching and experiential activities to roast mullet roe.

Geloina erosa, almost as big as a fist, is the famous product in Jinhu. The director of “Horse Hoof Clam Museum", Jiecong ZHENG went to the beach with friends dozens of years ago and incidentally stepped on the endangered shell “Geloina erosa” and brought it home to study. He found its tastes sweet. Therefore, he utilized fry breeding technology and successfully propagated Geloina erosa and named it “Horse Hoof Clam” according to its shape. It takes three to four years to raise a horse hoof clam to a large enough size, which is not an easy task. In order to promote the horse hoof clam, Jiecong ZHENG directed the seawater to the fish farm and created the ecology of the mangroves by the seashore, so that visitors can roll up their pants and walk into the pond to harvest the clams while getting their pants wet, if lucky. Because most people are curious about its flavor, there are also Horse Hoof Clam Health Soup and Roast Horse Hoof Clam served. The bleached shell can be the best material for DIY activities such as making your own night lamp or animals. DIY activities are really interesting.

Horse hoof clams are large, about the size of an adult’s fist.

“Yingjia B&B” has a spiral shaped observatory that locals jokingly call it “Kouhu 101”. The room styles include country and industrial designs to give coziness. Staying one night here, I heard the river in front of the B&B flowing by. I also saw the ship, for oyster harvesting passing through to the outer sea. From the observatory, I saw Chenglong Wetland and Hukou Wetland. At night, visitors can go fishing and have BBQ or sing Karaoke, the relaxing atmosphere in the fishing village can intoxicate visitors. Here all will have a different kind of fun!

From the observatory of Yingjia B&B, visitor can have an overlook of Chenlong Wetland and Hukou Wetland.