Crabs are plentiful so far this year in Maryland, but that doesn't mean there'll be enough to go around on Independence Day weekend, when nearly every patriotic Marylander, it seems, dreams of feasting on the state's official crustacean. Nor will they be cheap — with the price for a bushel of big Jimmies, or male crabs, topping $200 in some places.
Seafood dealers, restaurateurs and watermen say there's a good supply of blue crabs coming out of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries right now, despite the cold snap last winter that scientists say killed roughly a third of the population. Even with that apparent die-off, state biologists say the annual baywide survey tallied the second highest count since the late 1990s.
"It's plenty of crabs everywhere," said Janet Ruark of Rippons Brothers Seafood on Hoopers Island, a hotbed of crabbing in Dorchester County. "God's good," she said. "He always provides when it's needed."
not too pricey
ReplyDeleteive seen em for $40 1/2 bushel of #1's
those high prices are coming from the other side of the bay
no one on the shore would pay that price
We had crabs for memorial day. They were #1 about $100.00 a buschel and they were excellent.
ReplyDeleteCall Fat Boys on 346, great people, great crabs. Unlike Skipjacks, they are ready when you get there.
ReplyDeleteI cook my own, don't trust any seafood establishment. They cook
ReplyDeletein bulk by the bushel and don't check for dead crabs.
Paid $170 for a bushel on the upper Eastern Shore 2 weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThe crabs up there are much better then the ones down here.
Crabs are plentiful , that's not so.
ReplyDeleteThis resourse or food product is like any , supply and demand.
I paid $39 for a 1/2 bushel of #1's a fat boys last week. They are a great local place. I always try to support local business. In this case they are the cheapest and the quality of their product is always very high.
ReplyDeleteare you sure u got #1's because we go to them all the time a the #2's are always $39 or the females are and the #1's are like $69 so you got #2's not #1's. we have always had the best from them and the people are the best when we go in to get crabs or platters from fat boys crabs.
ReplyDelete1:57 PM
ReplyDeleteIf I paid that much I would want to believe that too.
Just like gasoline, crabs go up in price for the holidays.
ReplyDeletebad part is, the price to the consumer goes up, but the waterman still gets the same
ReplyDelete