We have our blue crabs, but invasive green crabs from Europe, which have been in our waters for two centuries (uninvited arrivals by ship) are predators that attack the blues, especially the soft-shells. They also wreck the eelgrass and other beneficial maritime environments. The idea now is to eat the green crabs as a way to get rid of them. Though American baymen contend the crabs are not worth eating, Venetians would disagree, as soft-shell green crabs are the delicacy they call moleche. The Vietnamese love them, too, as rice paddy crabs. That’s just some of the information you’ll find in a new green crab cookbook produced by the Green Crab R&D Project. The book tells how to handle, clean and prepare them in recipes like a po’ boy, a banh mi or Venetian-style.
“The Green Crab Cookbook,” written and edited by Mary Parks and Thanh Thai (Ingramspark, $39.99).
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