| Crab
is available in fresh, frozen and canned forms year-round.
Take a look at deeper look at crabs and learn to distinguish
females from males, a Dungeness from a blue, and why some
of those shells are soft.
Crab history
Crabs
are of the order Decapoda and cover a large variety of different
crustaceans.
The word crab comes from the Middle English. Of course,
the crab is one of the oldest species on earth. The horseshoe
crab dates back over 200 million years and is literally
a living fossil. Most people are aware of the zodiac sign
of Cancer, named for the constellation which resembles the
shape of a crab.
The majority of edible crabs have five pairs of legs, with
the front legs being larger pinchers. Out of the 4,400 varieties
of crab, most are found in North America in both salt and
fresh water. Second only to shrimp in shellfish popularity,
the world is fiercely proud of the recipes which spotlight
the type of crab most-prized in their region.
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Male
Crab |
Look
at the underside of the crab. The male has a distinctive,
elongated spire in the center |
|
|
|
Female
Crab |
Female
has a broad, triangular-shaped area in the center
of the shell |
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| Backfin
|
| Lump |
|
Jumbo |
| Soft-Shell |
| Crab
Cake |
|
Meat
from the breast of the blue crab. |
Backfin
|
Whole
pieces of white meat from the body of the crab. |
Lump |
|
Soft-shell
A
blue crab that has shed its shell, before it has grown a
new shell. The crab periodically sheds its shell to grow
a larger one. Soft-shell crabs are in their prime from April
to September. They are normally cooked whole and have no
waste. Crab which has shed its shell. Less than 12 hours
after molting. A delicacy in which the entire crab, paper-thin
shell and all, is eaten. Soft crab season is marked by the
first full moon in May and continues through early fall.
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