NEWS: Less Dungeness Crab This Year
Look at my big, meaty claws. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. |
A cargo ship headed for South Korea ran into a Bay Bridge tower earlier this month, spilling 58,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay. The spill polluted beaches across the bay and beyond. As reported by the Modesto Bee, the oil spill will delay the traditional December 1 start of crab season for the San Francisco fishing fleet, which will drive up demand for Dungeness crab caught elsewhere on the West Coast. Restaurants and seafood stores need to rely on supplies from the Pacific Northwest—Oregon and Washington state. | |
Some stores are going without; some restaurateurs report the price has doubled. The Dungeness crab, King crab and the Snow crab are the three main U.S. Pacific Ocean crabs. Dungeness, King and Stone crabs (from Florida and the Gulf Coast) have large, meaty claws and are eaten in the shell. Learn more about the different types of crab in our article, Crab Types & Grades Of Crab Meat, including a Crab Glossary. It’s one of 50 food glossaries in THE NIBBLE online magazine. The Dungeness crab, by the way, is named after Dungeness, Washington, but is found from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to Santa Cruz, California. For holiday party recipes, try the spectacular jumbo lump crabmeat from Miller’s Select. |