the lure of the sea...

Darien, GA - Once the second largest port on the East coast, it even had its own currency at one time. Now it's a small community with amazing seafood and colorful, charming locals. On this trip I've eaten caviar, flounder, soft-shell crabs, shrimp, oysters, and clams and all of it from these waters.

We came here in search of the Georgia white shrimp and we came at this particular time because it's their annual "Blessing of the Fleet" festival. I'll get to the shrimp in another post, but for now, let's talk about crabs.

I've been cooking soft-shell crabs for a dozen years or more and never fully understood how they were collected. I know that crabs, like all crustaceans, molt and shed their old exoskeleton to reveal a soft, new shell that eventually hardens. I also knew that the season for these delicacies was only about 2-3 weeks long. I ignorantly assumed that the crabs stayed somewhat soft for that whole period and crabbers just harvested them while they were in their soft, vulnerable state. Not true. What happens is that mature crabs are brought into facilities right before they "shell out" and kept in holding tables and watched 24/7 during the entire molting season. As soon as they discard their old shell they immediately start to harden. The workers at the plant watch thousands of crabs pop out of their shells, move the to different pools as they harden, and then remove then as soon as they become the correct density for shipment. We were lucky enough to get some seriously soft ones to work with here since we didn't have to travel far with them, but ones destined for shipment are allowed to firm up a bit more. The crabs are then packed in straw and covered with wet newspaper and the refrigerated. They can last about 5 days or so like this, completely alive and in a state of dormancy. I must admit I do hate killing them (or anything for that matter), but I do love eating them.

Much more to come on our trip to Darien. Lots of good eating! I'll leave with a picture of our first night's kickoff party food. Low country boil with shrimp, corn, sausage (no, that's not a finger!), slaw, sweet potatoes, beans, and a hush puppy. Good stuff...

Be well,

Hans