00:00Watch closely, what this woman is holding isn't sand, it's 100,000 baby crabs.
00:04These tiny things that look exactly like sand grains are actually what the large crabs we
00:08eat every day look like at the very beginning. These crab larvae are typically sold by weight,
00:12one pound contains roughly 80 to 100,000 of them. Farmers don't raise them in ponds after buying
00:17them, they pour them directly into rice patties, letting the tiny crab larvae grow alongside the
00:21rice. A few months later, those sand grain sized larvae slowly grow to the size of coins.
00:26By the time the rice matures, the crabs are perfectly fattened up too, and farmers harvest
00:30both at the same time. This farming method is called rice-crab symbiosis. Once crabs enter the
00:35rice patty they never sit still, constantly digging, turning mud, burrowing through soil,
00:39naturally aerating the entire patty floor. At the same time, pests, weeds, and larvae in the patty
00:44all become their food, while the crab droppings turn into natural fertilizer that continuously
00:47nourishes the growing rice. One rice patty producing both rice and crabs, harvested together
00:52at the end of the season. When these crabs finally reach the dinner table, one quick steam, lift the
00:57shell, and golden crab roe and tender crab meat release their aroma instantly.
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