Road Trip Special ~ (24) Maryland Blue Crab Soft Shell Mediums {Approx. 3.5" to 4"} Chesapeake Bay Catch ~ Cleaned, Dressed & Flash Frozen ~ Perfect for beer-battering!

What part of a Soft Shell can you eat?

First, realize that all crabs, on a routine basis, lose their shells and assume the title, “soft shell.” This stage is special since the window in catching them in the act of swimming around naked is about 2 hours. Complete softness wins favor with chefs for a cuisine “off the charts” with taste. Watermen know this fact and quickly remove a soft shell from the water since this stops the new shell growth. They need water to develop the proteins to harden a new “carapace.” Now that you realize the time-honored luck in catching a soft shell, the edible parts come into play.

The answer is simple, “the legs, shell area, and body all find a place on the dinner plate."  What does that leave? The eyes, mouth and gills get a “cleaning” from the edible parts. In other words, you can’t eat the face or the breathing parts. Everything else tastes salty-sweet with a mouthwatering tenderness, truly a seafood delicacy. From March to late September, crab houses carry fresh soft shells, but once winter hits, “dressing” or flash-freezing keeps an ample supply for those cold weather crab urges. Consider beer battering and sautéing in extra virgin olive oil to keep the crabs tender and crispy for a sandwich or nestled on a chopped salad as the protein. Once you become a pro, you’ll know that you eat an entire “cleaned” soft shell crab!