Maryland Blue Crabs: The State Food

Photo Credit: Tony Weeg

     With summer quickly approaching and warm weather right on the horizon, in Maryland, that means one thing, CRABS. The Maryland Blue Crab is a delicacy and revered as a God like substance in the state. On a weekend in the summer you can surely smell the aroma of steamed crabs and old bay rising from the backyard picnics of about half of every house in any given neighborhood.

     To an outsider, the Crab eating process is tedious, complicated and God forbid you have any small cuts on your fingers because the Old Bay burn would wish you were an amputee. But to a local, the way you break the shell and what meat you eat is unique to the individual. Also to a local, it is something to look forward to for weeks and even months. The winter is death anticipating the arrival of crab season. It is the best season.

     Unfortunately the price for a bushel or two isn't as cheap as a college kid would hope for. That's why buying a bushel is a great bonding experience and an excellent opportunity to gather family and friends for no reason at all except to eat delicious food.

     If you're born and raised in the state you probably even have a friend or two who own a boat and go crabbing for their own keeps. Not only is dragging the line and pulling up the cages a fun time that gives you the satisfaction of catching your own food, but it also saves you the money of having to buy any crabs. Catching them is obviously the hard part, once you have them you just throw them in a large metal pot over a flame in boiling water and a mixture of other unique ingredients. Each crabber has their own blend of whatever makes the crabs they catch delicious.

Photo Credit: Mary Hollinger

    If you can't get out to the Chesapeake area to catch your own bushel, finding a place that sells them is as easy driving around or using the phone book (people still use those right?) or the Internet. Wherever you are I'm sure there's a place close enough to you that has them for a reasonable price.

     With crabs coming back into the food chain in the summer I can't wait to get back to Maryland to chow down on the finest thing the Chesapeake bay has to offer. If you stop in Maryland in the summer be sure to try it for the first time. There's no shame in not knowing how to pick a crab or use a wooden hammer although you might get a few strange looks from the locals. Enjoy the state food!