What makes Jumbo Meat a Prized Find?
First, finding jumbo chunks in the blue crab is easy. Locate the back two swimming paddle leg area and you’ll note two large pristine crab chunks. You laid your hungry fingers on it with no major picking since the meat is denser, plump, and intact, compared to the flaky lump, body meat. These two muscles maneuver the crabs for its sideways swimming and develop into an impressive chunk from continues use and nourishment. Eelgrass, snails, oysters, small fish, plankton, etc. help build this muscle into quite a spectacle, perfect for cocktails and exquisite sautés. Each crab stage and molting year grows this crustacean into a prized jumbo candidate. For example, a bay crab, 5”-5.5” won’t have as much jumbo as an extra-large, 6.5”-7”. Once you realize it, you can easily pull jumbo chunks from the crab and taste the distinct sweet flavor with a buttery hint. With such a large portion, jumbo meat is prized for a bold culinary statement, “Blue Crabs have entered the building!”
