Mud snails are produced in Xinghua and Taixing.1 Use the newly hatched ones, which are most tender. Soak them in fermented rice jiu, add sugar, and they will spit out their oil.2 Although they are known also as “mud conchs,” they are best without any mud.
吐蛈3
吐蛈出興化、泰興。有生成極嫩者，用酒娘浸之，加糖則自吐其油，名為泥螺，以無泥為佳。
Notes:
1Xinghua and Taixing are respectively a prefecture and a city in Jiangsu Province.
2It seems more likely that this “oil” is not really the greasy hydrophobic item, but a slippery mucus.
3Commonly known as the “Korean mud snail”, the tutie 吐蛈 (also written as 吐鐵) is the mollusk Bullacta exarata. This is a well-loved culinary creature lauded in various texts since the Ming dynasty. In his book Investigation of Flavours from the Sea (Haiwei suoyin 海味索隐), Ming dynasty official and food enthusiast Tu Benjun 屠本畯 devotes a section to it, named Song of the mud snail (Tutie ge 吐铁歌), that states: “Tutie is also known as ‘mud snail’, with the best ones coming from the rice paddies of the south. Harvest them during the rainy season of May. The three Wu officials were ones who adored mud snails and stated that regardless of whether they were eating a meal, drinking jiu, or having tea, it was always welcome.”
Sean J.S. Chen 