In ancient times, it was called white fish and Hosta fish, also called striped fish and noodle fish. Adult whitebait is 6 ~ 9 cm long, cylindrical, slightly sideways, flat head, short snout, big eyes, scaleless body and white as silver, hence the name. Whitebait is soft, boneless, and translucent. It roams in the water like a silver shuttle weaving brocade, as fast as a silver arrow leaving the string, so the ancients compared it to a Hosta and a silver shuttle. If the whitebait is caught and fished out of the water, it will turn white immediately, like jade and snow, which is amazing. According to historical records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, whitebait was regarded as a sacred fish and a sacred fish. According to legend, Qu Yuan, the doctor of the Three Tong, was exiled by King Chu Maoxiang and drowned in the Guluo River. When people heard about it, they quickly threw zongzi into the water to save them. The glutinous rice grains in zongzi turned into clever white fish, so Qian Qian leaned up and picked up Qu Yuan and went down the river. After entering Dongting Lake, the lake suddenly turned white, attracting many people to look at the light and worship. After people found and picked up Qu Yuan's body, they buried You Ling and built a temple for sacrifice. However, the little white fish didn't want to go and lived in Dongting Lake. "Fisherman" said: "An Neng is white, but it is also vulgar." Fang Quyuan is innocent and noble. He also said that whitebait is white and loyal. Since then, people regard the whitebait in Dongting Lake as a sacred fish, which is more protected. Over time, there are more and more whitebait in Dongting Lake. Later, it was found that the whitebait in Dongting Lake was not only white and loyal, but also fat and tender, so some people made it into various dishes and became a rare delicacy in the world. There were records of eating whitebait in Dongting Lake in the Tang and Song Dynasties, such as a poem in the Tang Dynasty: "White fish enters the lake." Another example is the Song Dynasty poet Zhang said, "After beginning of spring, whitebait frosted perch", and compared whitebait with perch, which shows that whitebait has been listed as a treasure among fish. Song Health Records published by Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty recorded that "whitebait should be fried with noodles", which means that dragging whitebait and frying it is one of the best cooking methods. Li Shizhen gave a detailed description of whitebait in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Whitebait people are very heavy and small, showing goods everywhere, clear and beautiful;" After Qingming, the child lost weight, but it can be used as deafness. " The time and processing methods of local people catching whitebait were summarized. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, whitebait was listed as a royal tribute, which shows its extraordinary value. "The loquat in Dongting is yellow and the whitebait is fat and fragrant." The loquat ripens in May, which is the season when whitebait is on the market. At this time, merchants gathered in Dongting Lake, all because of whitebait, which has become another landscape of Dongting Water Town for many years. In the long-term reproduction, whitebait in Dongting Lake is divided into several varieties, among which whitebait with short tail and whitebait with short teeth are the top grades. These two kinds of whitebait are about 8 cm long, with white body and no scales. If they have no bones and intestines, they are translucent, fat and delicious. According to modern nutritional analysis, whitebait is rich in nutrition and has the characteristics of high protein and low fat. It is considered that whitebait is a "whole food" without removing fins and bones, which is rich in nutrition, which is conducive to improving human immune function and prolonging life. According to Chinese medicine, whitebait has sweet leaves, flat nature, tonifying deficiency, invigorating stomach, benefiting lung and benefiting water. Can be used for treating diseases such as spleen and stomach weakness, lung deficiency and cough. Dongting Lake silver sells well overseas, especially in Japan, calling whitebait ginseng in fish a rare treasure. Whitebait is delicious on the table. Watch it, the color is pleasing to the eye; Smell it, it's delicious and tempting, with a mouthful of saliva; Eat it; It's delicious. It smells good on your teeth and cheeks. There are many ways to eat whitebait, such as frying, stewing, stewing, etc. The most distinctive is frying and making soup. Dry fried whitebait is golden in color, loose, crisp, fat and fragrant. Sauté ed whitebait, dipped in egg liquid, soaked in bread crumbs, and fried in a 40% to 50% hot oil pan. The outer layer is crisp, the inner layer is fragrant, soft and tender, and the flavor is unique. Stir-fried whitebait, fat and tender, with other ingredients, has a variety of flavors. Such as "whitebait scrambled eggs", the dishes are yellow and white, fresh and delicious, and its taste is tender as shrimp. Steamed whitebait, fragrant and fresh, fat but not greasy. If steamed with shrimp paste, it looks like bird's nest, which is a first-class high-end dish. The "silver fish soup" made from different ingredients is delicious. If it can be mixed with shredded chicken, shredded pork, straw mushroom and eggs, it can be made into soup such as shredded chicken and silver fish soup, shredded pork and straw mushroom and silver fish soup. The whitebait in Dongting Lake can also be made into dried whitebait, which is slender and graceful, looks like Hosta, has the same taste, is not easy to deteriorate and is resistant to collection. Since ancient times, it has been a good gift for relatives and friends. When eating dried whitebait, soak it in warm water to make it swell. After washing, it can be boiled, fried, fried, steamed or made into soup. They all taste great, crisp or crisp, soft or tender. In Hunan cuisine, Dongting Lake whitebait series dishes are elegant and fashionable in ancient times, thus leading the way. It was called Yun Mengze in ancient times. China's second largest freshwater lake. Located in the north of Hunan Province, on the south bank of Jingjiang River, across Hunan and Hubei provinces, it is a faulted lake. The lake is 33.5 meters above sea level and covers an area of 2,740 square kilometers. Water storage capacity 178 billion cubic meters. It connects Hunan, Zi, Yuan and Li in the south, and branches to Songzi, Taiping, Dani and Diaoxian in the north of the Yangtze River (the latter was blocked and cut off in 1958). The lake discharges into the Yangtze River from Chenglingji, Yueyang. The average runoff of Hukou for many years is 346.9 billion cubic meters. Dongting Lake is the most important catchment and flood storage basin in the Yangtze River basin, which plays a great role in flood control, reducing the flood peak flow by about 30%, such as 1954. The maximum flow into the lake is 69,000 cubic meters (July 3 1), and the maximum flow out of the lake is only 42,000 cubic meters (August 2), which reduces the flood impact on the Yangtze River in flood season. Dongting Lake was originally named "Eight Hundred Li Dongting Lake", but due to the long-term sedimentation of a large amount of sediment carried by four rivers and four mouths, and artificial reclamation, the lake surface became narrower and shallower. 1949, the lake area was still 4,360 square kilometers, but now the lake area is reduced by more than 1/3, and it is divided into East Dongting Lake, South Dongting Lake and West Dongting Lake by newly rising land, of which East Dongting Lake has the largest area of 109 1 square kilometer. At present, the sediment brought into the lake with the current reaches 65.438+0.28 billion cubic meters every year. The area is shrinking year by year, and the storage function is gradually decreasing. Dongting Lake is located in the subtropical northern edge of China, with an annual average temperature of 16.7℃ and an annual precipitation of 1400 mm. According to the statistics of Lujiao water level station, the average water level of Dongting Lake is 25.57 meters (Wusongji), but it varies greatly. The highest water level in the year 13.6 1 m (1962), the lowest water level 9.29 m (1972), and the absolute water level 65438+. Dongting Lake is rich in fish resources, with more than 130 species. The main economic fish are carp, grass carp, carp, silver carp, bighead carp, bighead carp, silver carp and herring. Whitebait is a characteristic fish in Dongting Lake, especially the clear water whitebait in Yuanjiang is famous at home and abroad. Shellfish resources are also very rich, reaching more than 40 species, and pearl culture with Hyriopsis cumingii and Pleurotus eryngii has been successful. The lake area is rich in ramie, Junshan tea and Xianglian. Dongting Lake area is one of the important commodity grain bases in China. The plain around Dongting Lake is formed by Dongting Lake water system and sediment from four ports, covering an area of about 654.38+00,000 square kilometers.