We stopped at Billy's Seafood yesterday
and Judy handpicked and packed 20 soft shells for us.
Almost every crab we had was a female.
You can tell by the apron.
This crab is a mature female, known as a sook.
On an immature crab, called a Sally,
the apron is more triangular. 
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.
A face only a mother could love ...
... which Mr. Hawthorne promptly cut off.
To dress or clean a crab,
you first cut off the mouth and face behind the eyes
and cut off the apron.
(On these crabs, the apron had already
been cut off.)
Next, Mr. Hawthorne peeled back the soft shell
and snipped the lungs out on each side.
Then he made a slit down the middle
and cleaned out some organs.
The first batch we got were all female crabs,
so I think these are some kind of female parts.
Here's a video showing
how to properly clean a soft shell.
I noticed the chef just sauteed his soft shells.
We like a light batter on ours.
Next time, I'll video
Mr. Hawthorne as he deftly
dresses his soft shells.
And I also like to rinse off the yellow gunk,
also known as the "green gland," or "mustard, or "tomalley."
Contrary to popular belief, this is not fat.
It's actually a main component of the crab's digestive system -
the hepatopancreas - which acts as both liver and pancreas.
It serves to produce digestive enzymes
and is also responsible for filtering impurities from the crab's blood.
Research has shown that colorless, odorless, and tasteless
chemical contaminants such as
PCBs, dioxin, and mercury
accumulate in the fatty tissues
and concentrate in the hepatopancreas
and can increase one's chances of developing cancer,
having neurological impairments,
or miscarrying.
Many people consider this mustard a delicacy.
I do not.
It has a strong (unpleasant to me) taste and
I consider it "yellow gunk."
Mr. Hawthorne individually wrapped
each soft shell,
placed them in freezer bags,
and froze.
And I just can't wait
(for that watermelon fizz)
for some delicious soft shells.
How can a consumer know it’s Soft Shell Crab season?
