While eating hard-shelled crabs may be time-consuming, they are a delicious staple of Maryland cuisine.
Soft shell crabs are soft and are eaten with the entire crab. Soft shell crabs are actually hard-shell crabs that have shed their shells to allow for growth. Shells do not grow with the crab. Crabs retain a soft shell when they shed their exterior allowing for a greater meat haul. No matter which one you’re eating, one thing is for sure: crab meat in general is extremely good for a balanced diet and lifestyle.
Hard Shell Crabs
The blue crabs, often referred to as “blues,” for sale in grocery stores and specialty shops are commonly Chesapeake or Atlantic blue crabs. These crustaceans offer a sweet, delicate meat encased in a hard shell. Eating these crabs is usually quite time consuming, requiring you to carefully pull meat from the body and claws cracked with a mallet. Hard shell benefits include prevention of heart disease and inflammation due to arthritis, thanks to the omega 3 fatty acids in it. Crab cakes, made with meat of Dungeness crabs or blue crabs, are a favorite among seafood lovers in America.
Soft Shell Crabs
Soft shell crab is a seasonal food that, while available year-round if frozen, is best when fresh. The season for soft shell crab runs from May to September. Soft shell crab is a blue crab that is in a specific state of molting. The crab molts it’s hard, outer shell. At a certain period, the shell comes off and the crab is a “soft shell.” The closer it is found to this period, the better the crab is. The crab finds its way into multiple seafood dishes, with multiple preparations. There are myriad nutritional reasons to make this crab a part of your regular diet. There are also some drawbacks. The first major one to consider is the sodium content of the crab. A serving has 249 mg of sodium. This is 10 percent of your daily recommended amount of sodium. Even so, eaten carefully and with dietary consideration, a soft shell crab is definitely a Maryland delicacy.
Your Crab Destination This Summer
Costas Inn has been a Baltimore tradition since 1971. You may recognize our restaurant, which was recently featured on the Food Network with Michael Symon on Burgers, Brew, and ‘Que! We were also voted the 2015 #1 Baltimore Seafood Restaurant by USA Today, as well as #1 Crab Restaurant 2014 in the Baltimore Business Journal. You may have also spotted Costas Inn during one of our 9 appearances on the Today Show or heard one of our many interviews on WJZ TV Channel 13 with Ron Matz and Marty Bass. You can enjoy our famous crab cakes in-house or order them online for anytime eating. We also provide some of the best seafood catering in the Baltimore area! You can also get your fill from Costas even when you’re not in our dining room: follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube!