Evening star., 1950-06-05
BY Violet Faulkner
Food Editor.

when you fancy you near the
old shells popping of the famed
blue crabs down in the Chesa-
peake you don't need a calendar
to tell you summer is here.
AS we shed our winter over
coats when we get closer to the
suns rays so does the weather
conscious crab peel off the old
shell and try on the new thin one.
Little does he realize he's stepping
into a trap when he dons that
new summer garb for a soft
shelled crab is considered especial
ly choice eating. At this stage
they are plucked from the water
and tenderly packed in wet sea
grass in specially constructed
boxes and sent off post-haste to
the markets. Soft crabs are
shipped alive while most hard
crabs are steamed near the place
of capture, the meat picked out
and shipped In ice containers.
The crab leads an interesting
and complex life and goes through
more evolutions than a butterfly.
Every year between the first of
June and the end of August a
new generation of crabs is pro-
duced. AS the young crabs grow
they shed their shells repeatedly.
They mott about Is times before
they mature at first about
every six days, until gradually
there is a span of some 25 days
between moltS. Crabs gain about
one-third in size with each molt.
The so-called soft crab is ap-
piled to any crab that has shed its
old shell until the new shell has
hardened. He starts life as hard
shell then shifts to ''peeler," in
dicating new shell is forming
underneath the old one. From a
"peeler" he becomes a buster"
when he breaks out of his shell;
the next stage is the gourmet's de-
light the soft shell. In the
space of 48 hours the cycle re-
verses itself and he is back where
he started a hard shell again.
According to Bishop Thompson,
q man who knows his fish, there |
are two different ways of CATCH
ing soft shells. Some people like
to wade around in shallow water
with long-handled push net that
measures some 3 feet across. The
crabber keeps pushing the net
around in grassy places until he
spots his prey then scoops down
with the net and hauls the crab
in. Others prefer using a row
boat, standing on the bow and
looking for the catch. The ex-
perienced crabber will tell you to
look IN the shady places, around
an old log, bottle or shoe, anything
that will provide shade. When he
sees a crab the procedure is the
same-down goes the net and up
OoAAASo oAAC Vi oO' julio dIlQ July
are the heaviest soft crab months. |
The method of catching the
ard-shelled crab is somewhat
different. They are caught on
trot-lines baited with salted eel
or salted pig snouts. They may
also be caught in crab pots which
are big wire cages with tunnels.
The funnel is baited with fish; the
crab goes into the funnel after
the bait, becomes enmeshed and I,
can't find his way out. The funnel ,
acts like a fly trap. Crabbers re-
sort to slick trick when Grabbing
On a sunny day. Often they are {
by the reflected glare of
sun on the rippling water which
prevents them from spotting their
quarry in the shallow, shoal
waters. Instead of packing up and
heading for home, the enterpris-
ing crabber reaches for his oil
bottle, pours a small amount on
the surface and waits for it to
spread out. The film furnishes