To Judith 783

Kev Crocombe

You can do it if you've a market for it. The crabs in question are extremely delicate and can't be held live in water for long, nor when cooked, for more than a few hours. They are best cooked quickly and eaten hot. The alternative is cooked commercially, shelled by hand and the meat pasteurized and containerized, but not canned. There are crab specialty stores where you can buy them alive in seaweed and they are always local or flown in. The same shops will usually cook them for you as well, and you take them home and eat them immediately. Any that you don't eat immediately need to be shelled and the meat covered in cooking water and frozen. They are scarce enough and costly enough that you wouldn't want to be throwing hundreds away because they didn't sell in time. Compare to a lobster, which can be held alive in a seawater tank for long periods. Every creature is not like every other creature and the blue crab is extraordinary enough to have created its own delivery system. But it is delicate and requires special handling. It is rare to find it off the East coast or the Louisiana area coast, because it has to be couriered by air and used within a day or so. Los Angeles offers it because there is a market at a respectable (read enormous) price.