The crab native to Maryland is the Blue, or Blue Channel Crab. It is so named for its blue color shell, which turns red when cooked. These crabs are sold live, steamed in the shell, or cooked meat as either fiercer pasteurized. This crab can be found all along the east coast, including Virginia, the Carolinas, even Florida.

Fresh crabmeat, generally sold by the pound, I picked from freshly steamed female crabs. There are several grades, the most popular being Special, Backfin and Jumbo Lump. Special is a mixture of smaller pieces of backfin meat and usually has pieces of shell which need to be cleaned out before eating. Backfin has larger meat from the body of the crab and has less shell. Jumbo Lump is the finest grade and contains large lumps of meat, and very little cartilage or shell.

Pasteurized crabmeat is a method of subjecting fresh meat to a special heat porches and sealing it in air free cans to prevent spoilage. As long as the can remains sealed, the pasteurized crab meat will keep in the fresh state 6-12 months if kept refrigerated at 33-35 degrees F.

All crab meat, whether fresh or pasteurized, should be used within 3 days of opening the container.

	HOW TO OPEN MARYLAND STEAMED CRABS
	CRAB SEASONS
	CRAB SIZES

TM

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