The season's first catch of Wild Maryland Soft shell Crab has arrived! They're making their West Coast debut at Water Grill.

THE START OF THE SEASON

Spring is a wonderful time. For starters, we get more daylight (and eventually recoup the hour of sleep lost at the start of Daylight Savings Time).

That means little to Mother Nature though: the world continues to turn, and tilt on its axis, bringing warmer weather to the Northern Hemisphere. It’s here, in the Mid-Atlantic, where we begin to reap those rewards. Watermen take to their boats off the coast of Chesapeake Bay and prepare their traps for the blue crab harvest.

As water temperatures rise, these blue crabs begin to molt and shed their shells. It’s at this moment when the live crabs are harvested – at the peak of tenderness.

Learn more about their journey – from blue shell to soft shell, and from the country’s largest estuary to one of our favorite seasonal offerings – here.

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ABOUT BLUE CRABS

Who says Latin is dead? The language tells us a lot. Exhibit A: the scientific name for blue crab is Callinectes sapidus, meaning beautiful savory swimmer.

These crabs propel themselves through the water using their back fins, or swimmerets. You’ll find this species all along the Atlantic Coast, down through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and even to some northern parts of South America.

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HARVESTING

Blue Crabs live anywhere from three to four years and reach maturity around one year to 18 months. Growth is very dependent on temperature. Mating occurs from fall through the spring and, interestingly, females can only mate once during their life but can spawn multiple times.  

Females, especially those carrying eggs, prefer higher salinity areas and often migrate towards the mouth of nearby rivers to spawn. Males prefer lower salinity waters and can often be found closer to river mouths and estuaries.  

Most of the season’s harvesting will happen in late Spring as water temperatures warm and crabs prepare for their summer growth. This is often marked by the first full moon in May. In some cases, like what we’re seeing out of Georgia, the water warms as early as the beginning of April.

A COMING OF AGE

Soft shell crabs are blue crabs. They’re harvested throughout the East Coast by commercial crabbers when the hard shell blue crabs are deemed to be peelers, or crabs that are ready to molt.

Watermen will look for signs, such as white, pink and red colors on the shells, to tell which crabs will molt, and when. In fact, a red outline, called a “red sign”, on the swimming fin indicates that a crab will molt in less than two days.

These crabs are then transferred to shedding tanks where they are monitored until they molt. The tanks are shallow, and the water temperature is carefully regulated to emulate the crab’s natural molting habitat.

Once a crab molts, it is removed from the shedding tank as soon as possible before the shell begins to harden (which can take as little as a few hours). It’s at this moment when a blue crab becomes a soft shell crab. They’re then carefully packed and arrive to us daily – directly from pristine coastline of Georgia, straight to our restaurants.

this moment when a blue crab becomes a soft shell crab. They’re then carefully packed and arrive to us daily – directly from the Chesapeake to our restaurants.

FLAVOR

Iconic, sweet and earthy, soft shell crab delivers a crunchy, delicate bite with olive-like notes imparted from the shell.

At Water Grill, our Wild Maryland Soft shell Crab is prepared tempura-fried, served with pickled plums, Belgian endive and our house XO sauce

All this soft shell talk got you hungry for more? Check out our menus and make a reservation!

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