"Maryland is for crabs" doesn't mean that grouchy people live in our fine state (although that may be true - look at me, for example.) One of the delicacies the great state of Maryland is known for is crabs - served steamed, as crab cakes, in soup, and many other ways. Summer just isn't summer without at least one session spent leaning over a brown paper tablecloth, mallet in one hand, crab claw in the other, and crab guts everywhere. The crabs we eat in MD are blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, found in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Blue crabs are also found in the Gulf of Mexico, but they just aren't the same if they don't come from MD! Adult male crabs are known as jimmies, recognizable by blue claw tips and a t-shaped apron (the convenient easy-open tab on the bottom). Females are called sooks (mature) or she-crabs (immature). They have red-tipped claws and a triangular or rounded apron. (An interesting description of apron shapes from another site suggests that the male apron is "shaped like the Washington Monument" and that of a mature female is "semicircular, like the dome of the Capitol building.) The life-cycle of a crab consists of many stages, from larvae ("zoea") to mature adults. Eaters are most interested in "soft-shelled" crabs, which are those that have molted their hard shells and have not yet formed their new shell. Maryland law dictates that a softshell crab may not be a "keeper" unless it is at least 3 1/2" in length. Hard shells must be at least 5". (If this is true, I had some illegal crabs earlier in the summer. Possibly they had been harvested from the Gulf and not the state of MD.) I have included several recipes (of course!) for crab-filled goodies, plus a page of crab-related links for your enjoyment. The Chesapeake Bay is the source of many other delectible seafood goodies, and it would take entirely too many pages for me to explore it all. Hopefully you all will be satisfied with just a little "taste" for now.

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