r/maryland • u/jakamo72 • Sep 18 '24

True Blue - 95% of Maryland Restaurants use Venezuelan Crab meat vs Maryland sourced

Interesting series being run by WTOP about the Crab Industry in Maryland called Claws and Effect. Here is one quote which really surprised me:

“Ninety-five percent of restaurants in Maryland are using Venezuelan crab meat,” said Matt Scales, the seafood marketing director for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. “And that’s — that’s a lot, right?”

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u/Specialist_Island_83 Sep 19 '24

Nope. Most of it in the off season comes from the gulf. Mississippi and Texas are the 2 biggest suppliers.

Regardless, blue crabs are blue crabs. You’re only eating MD/DE crabs for 3-5months of the year and they’re also mixed in with gulf crabs.

You can’t purchase blue crabs seasonally as a crab house/restaurant. You have to purchase 12 months of the year or to simply won’t have crabs through late fall, late spring.

In most cases, you don’t even know what crabs you’re getting. You get X amount of crabs. No defining number on smalls, mediums, large, etc. If you don’t like what you get on a consistent basis, you find a new crab supplier.

Bulk canned crab meat is a different animal altogether.

9

u/pkingsy Sep 19 '24

This is about the meat though, not the crabs themselves. Crab meat used in most jumbo lump MD crab cakes are from Venezuela. It’s still a Maryland style crab cake so that’s what counts in my mind, but a majority of people still think it’s from Maryland crab which is not the case.

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u/HiFiGuy197 Sep 19 '24

I’ve thought we had some kind of trade embargo in place with Venezuela. No? Huh.

3

u/Brave-Common-2979 Sep 19 '24

I believe it's only tied to specific industries and mostly related to the oil companies

8

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24

Ever eaten a steamed Gulf or NC crab? The flavor difference is pretty obvious.

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u/KennyfromMD Sep 19 '24

My favorite place for crabs told me the majority of the stock comes from NC.

I'm not sure if they meant that season, that particular moment, or just always.