When butter is melted and just foaming, add the crab, belly-side down. > Add butter to a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. One of our favorite ways to prepare soft-shell crabs is to follow chef Jason Stanhope of Charleston’s award-winning restaurant FIG’s sautéed crab recipe, as featured in Garden & Gun. Once the crabs are clean, you’re ready to turn up the heat. While you can cook a softie straight from the sea, we highly recommended cleaning the crabs to avoid any tough or chewy bites. (Expert tip: Atlantic blue crabs should be alive up until a few hours before they’re cooked, so make sure the crustaceans are still moving before you take them home.) If you’re searching for softies to-go, Blackbird Market on Johns Island and Seafood Alley Fresh Seafood Market in downtown Charleston are two of our go-to spots for local, fresh crabs. During this month, many of the Charleston area’s Local restaurants like the Royal Tern, located a short drive from Kiawah River on Johns Island, serve up batches of local soft-shells to satisfy your softie cravings. Kiawah River is a one-stop-shop for fresh blue crabs, and there’s no better time to celebrate softie season than during the Lowcountry Local First’s annual Eat Local Month, which takes place each April. Depending on when the full moon occurs, soft-shell crab season generally takes place a few weeks before or after Easter. This transition can take days to complete, making it the perfect time to catch the crabs at their softest, most delicious stage. Sold by the Tray & Priced Per Dozen: Whales - 1 Dozen Per Tray Approximate Weight = 5.9 oz, length 5.5” plus tip to tip Jumbos - 1.5 Dozen Per Tray Approximate Weight = 4.5 oz, length 5-5.5” tip to tip Primes - 2 Dozen Per Tray Approximate Weight = 3.3 oz, length 4.5-5” tip to tip Hotels - 2.5 Dozen Per Tray Approximate Weight = 2.5 oz, length 4-4.5” tip to tip Mediums - 3 Dozen Per Tray Approximate Weight = 1.8 oz, length 3.The term “soft-shell” refers to the Atlantic blue crab’s transitional phase when the crustacean creates an inner soft shell and pops out of its hard shell to accommodate for summertime growth. The crabs must be 3.5 inches tip to tip on the carapace in order to be harvested and sold. The molting process takes only a couple of hours and the crab must be removed from the water within one to two hours of shedding its shell, or the new shell will already be hardening and turning leathery crabs in this condition are called paper shells or buckrams. Soft shell crabs are taken in traps and the fisherman are able to recognize when the crabs are about to molt and also are able to keep crabs in cages in the sea, or in tanks on shore, until the right moment. Many say this is the ultimate way to eat blue crab, because of the pure crab flavor. Soft shell crab have a distinct full flavor and the thin paper shell adds a beautiful richness. Soft shell crabs are available traditionally in June, July and August, but techniques have been developed which allow crabs to be held in tanks and persuaded to molt almost when required, so that the soft shell season has been greatly extended. Soft shell crabs are blue crabs harvested just after they have molted or shed their shell and before the new one hardens.
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