or cooked and processed into shell-less meat.
This meat is then sold fresh, or pasteurized, or
frozen for longer keeping. In addition to the
muscle tissue, the crab’s large digestive
gland, its “mustard” or “butter,” is prized for
a rich, intense flavor and creamy texture,
which it lends to sauces or to crab pastes.
Crab liver can accumulate the toxins from
algae that cause shellfish poisoning (p. 186),
so state regulators monitor toxin levels and
restrict crabbing when they become
significant.
Soft-shell crabs Because freshly molted
crustaceans have just spent much of their
protein and fat reserves and are absorbing
water to fill out their new shell, eaters
generally disdain them. The major exceptions
to this rule are the soft-shell shore crab of
Venice, and the soft-shell blue crab of the
U.S. Atlantic coast, which is fried and eaten
whole. Animals that are about to molt are