The males, or Jimmies,
have a more phallic-looking apron, or as the crab sites I visited say, "It's shaped like the Washington Monument."
For more information on sexing crabs,
please see here.
With these twenty crabs,
Mr. Hawthorne first cleaned them,
then wrapped them in plastic,
put them in freezer bags,
and froze them.
They'll be good for 3-4 months in the freezer
and now he's a happy camper
since if he gets a hankering for a soft shell crab,
by golly, he can have one.
These crabs are blue crabs.
Their name, Callinectes sapidus,
comes from the Greek calli for "beautiful"
and nectes for "swimmer,"
and from the Latin sapidus for "savory."
All crabs shed their shells to grow,
but only a few species of crab can be eaten
in the soft shell state,
and the blue crab is the only commercially available soft shell product.
During the lifetime of the blue crab,
it goes through several growth stages.
The blue crab may shed its hard outer shell
18-23 times during its three-year life span.
Each time the crab molts, it's a soft shell for only a few hours
and must be removed from the water immediately
in order to prevent the shell from becoming hard.
Commercial crabbers harvest the blue crabs
and place them in water-fed troughs,
waiting for them to shed.
There are many crabbing troughs
on Colington Road,
the single road in and out of Colington Harbour.
And when you drive this road at night during
soft shell season,
you'll notice a string of light bulbs over these troughs
as the crabbers wait throughout the night for
the crabs to lose their shell.
Crabbers look for a faint line next to the backfin.
The color of this line determines when the crab is ready to shed.
When there's a white line on the backfin,
the crabbers refer to the crab as a "green" crab,
which will most likely shed within 7-10 days.
A pink line indicates the crab
is likely to shed within 2-7 days.
A red line means shedding is imminent.
The crabbers separate the crabs
according to their progress in the molting process.
When the crab molts, it's very vulnerable.
They should be kept alive until immediately before cooking,
so usually, crabs must be eaten within 4 days of shedding.
The soft shell season generally lasts from May to early July.
General folklore says the soft shell season traditionally
begins with the first full moon in May, but water temperatures and conditions really determine when the crabs start the molting process.
At that time, the crab begins to shed to accommodate
its summer growth, usually about a 30% growth spurt.
The actual shedding can take anywhere
from one to three hours,
after which the crab must be removed from the water
or the hardening process will continue.
Thus, the reason for the lights over the
crabbers' troughs.
The crabs need to be monitored around the clock.
The crabs are sized and packed,
with the largest, of course,
commanding the premium prices.
The crabs are measured across the back,
point to point.
Mediums are 3 1/2 to 4 inches.
Jumbos are 5 to 5 1/2 inches.
Hotels are 4 to 4 1/2 inches.
Whales are over 5 1/2 inches.
Primes are 4 1/2 to 5 inches.
Here are our crabs, waiting for Mr. Hawthorne to clean them.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Cleaning Soft Shell Crabs.
At the coast,
we know it's truly spring and summer's nigh
when it's soft shell crab season.
And Mr. Hawthorne loves his soft shells.
At $2.00 a crab.
Gone are the days when we could get
these buggers for $8/dozen.
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Interesting. But I'm with Carol on the ick factor of cutting a critter's face off when it is still using it.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I also love the first picture. Brilliant job, dear.
ReplyDeleteThat's the same reason I don't eat liver - the repository of toxins is not very appealing to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosie, that was really interesting!
ReplyDelete