AUTHOR: Julia TITLE: Crabs: Girls and Boys DATE: 8/22/2009 09:17:00 AM ----- BODY:

When I arrived at the farm, I was hot and tired from 9 hours of driving. Even with the A/C working in the car, the sun beating on me and the aggressive drivers wore me down.

The first order of business: check the crab traps and swim in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Bay is 1,500 feet to the east. His neighbor has graciously allowed Brett to hang 4 traps off his pier. When I visited last October, we only caught one crab – and she was a she. And in order to help preserve the crab population, the females are tossed back.

This time, we caught about a dozen. We still threw back the females, unless, of course they had just shed their shells, and we would enjoy them as soft shell crabs. The males were steamed and enjoyed simply.

It’s easy to distinguish between the females and the males: the apron on the underside clearly shows which is which.

Males:

Females:

Labels: crabs

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

penny DATE:8/22/2009 09:31:00 AM Now you have me wanting crabs. I may have to get mine at J. Hook on the waterfront but I can wish I was by the bay trapping my own. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

noble pig DATE:8/22/2009 10:27:00 AM Okat that was really interesting about the identification. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

jo DATE:8/22/2009 10:40:00 AM So when is it okay to make she crab soup? I see it in all my old binder style cookbooks from Alabama and Charleston. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Julia DATE:8/23/2009 08:14:00 PM penny -- at least at J. Hook you can get as many as you want at once.

noble pig -- I'm always amused at how much their "Parts" look human.

jo -- probably best to hold off until the crab population is a little more stable. I wonder if you could use salmon or flying fish roe instead?? ----- --------