Soft-shell crab is crustacean seafood that can be eaten whole if fried or pan seared shortly after molting their hard shell.

Ever since I was introduced to this Southern specialty, I can hardly wait for the annual soft shell crab season. Once again The Main Street Eatery will serve the very best Chesapeake blue crabs, lightly breaded and accompanied by a fine Remoulade sauce, served on a bed of organic mesclun greens .  Enjoy them as an appetizer or make them your main course with a double helping.  The soft shell crabs will be available every evening, starting June 1st, for a short period only.

What else is going on at the Main Street Eatery?

- Prix Fixe dinners every evening for $19.00, including appetizer, soup or salad, entrée and dessert

- Refreshing Mojitos made with mint from our garden

- Customers’ vote on new favorite appetizer: Blackened oysters, mild, medium or hot, on lentil salad

Consult our new late spring menu on line @mainsteatery.com
and for questions and suggestions, as always, drop me an e-mail to ugabathuler@comcast.net/.

We hope you’ve all been enjoying the spring thus far and look forward to your next visit!

Best regards
Urs and Michele Gabathuler
Proprietors
434 847 2526

Answer:

Soft-shell crab is crustacean seafood that can be eaten whole if fried or pan seared shortly after molting their hard shell.
As crabs grow larger, their shells cannot expand, so they molt the exteriors and have a soft covering for a matter of days when they are vulnerable and considered usable. Fishermen often put crabs beginning to molt aside, until the molting process is complete in order to send them to market as soft-shells. Crabs should be kept alive until immediately before cooking so they are fresh. Usually crabs must be eaten within four days of molting to be useful as soft-shell crabs. They begin to rebuild their shells after that, and when eaten, have a thin shell. These are often referred to as “paper shells” or “tin backs” and are more crunchy when eaten, making them less desirable to some.

With the blue crab in cold waters this molting is highly seasonal and usually lasts from early May to July. Demand for this delicacy has increased with the use in Japanese and other cuisines, so that the mangrove crab has been used as an alternative source from Asia. Because mangrove crabs grow in tropical muddy flats all year round, such swamps provide a continual source of soft-shell crabs. In warmer waters such as the Gulf of Mexico, soft-shell crabs are available for longer periods. The crabs continue to molt throughout the year, but in smaller numbers, sometimes making it unprofitable to fishermen to maintain traps through those periods.