The Same Fish Under Different Names
Snakehead fish is known in China as hei yu or sheng yu, in Hong Kong and Guangdong as sheng yu, in Malaysia and Singapore as toman or toman fish, on the international market as snakehead fish, and in the seafood industry as Chinese black fish. Buyers therefore search for toman slice, snakehead fish slice, Chinese black fish fillet or frozen snakehead fillet, all of which refer to the same product category.
Why It Suits Chinese Cuisine
Snakehead has been used in Chinese cooking for generations in dishes including boiled fish, sour cabbage fish, fish slice hot pot and spicy fish slices. The firm meat texture is what makes it work: a softer whitefish falls apart in a long simmered broth, while snakehead holds its shape.
What Pre-Starching Does
Pre-starched fillet, sold as toman slice, is a ready to cook solution. The slicing and starching steps that a restaurant would otherwise do by hand during service are done in the plant, which removes labour cost and makes slice thickness and cooking time consistent between shifts.
Who Buys It
Restaurants, wholesalers and seafood distributors serving Chinese and Asian foodservice markets, where demand for convenient frozen fish products has grown alongside the spread of Chinese restaurants worldwide.
Specification Notes
Our snakehead is farm raised in clean freshwater ponds in Zhuhai under BAP certification, processed under HACCP and ISO guidelines, and available as whole round, GGS, fillet, slices and flower cut in IWP, IVP and bulk packing.
