Where to eat invasive green crabs in the Greater Boston Area?

This weekend’s article in the New York Times about eating invasive green crabs has me wanting to do my part to help out our shoreline! There are restaurants mentioned including in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and apparently the little crustaceans can be ordered from Wulff’s seafood. I’m wondering if anyone has seen them on a menu or consumed them closer to Boston. I think I recall having a sauce with them at Moeca, but my memory is hazy and they don’t appear on the current menu. Here’s the article- definitely worth a read & sorry it’s behind a paywall for some.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/magazine/invasive-crabs-new-england.htmlGreen Crabs

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I read that article too, and wondered the same thing.

Gift link to article:

Invasive Crabs Have Taken Over New England. One Solution? Eat Them.

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Thank you!

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There are a few prior threads on green crabs, but if you sign up on the website, they alert you to events, though infrequent.

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I think I started some of those older threads. A few things from what I’ve learned - I was able to source some green crabs from Wulf’s Fish: green crabs are much smaller. Of the ones I received, most where 1/3 to 1/2 of the size of a blue crab. I cooked a bitty one and while it tasted sweet and had decent crab flavor, its size made really enjoying the meat too onerous. Taste wise, I found it more similar to blue crabs. If only they could grow bigger!

Many of the recipes call for making it into a stock or broth, and that was really good. I still cleaned them (e.g., separated the main shell, removed gills, etc.), but I don’t know if that was truly necessary. The broth/stock comes out quite dark, given the deep green and blackish color of the crabs, and this was after I cleaned them! Color wise it may seem off putting because it looks like muddy liquid. :laughing: It’s definitely a distinct seafood, briney sweetness to the flavor and I can see this working well to flavor a risotto or something similar. Maybe a few more creative chefs will try to find a commercial use for them.

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Thanks for taking one for the team! I also wonder if, for stock making, this is a one to add to other shrimp shells/fish bones/lobster shells, etc. as part of a “seafood” stock to have in the freezer as needed.

I’ll bet you that would go real well! One of the recipes I think calls for crushing up the bodies and that probably can add even more flavor to the broth. Since I had already broken them up for cleaning, I didn’t crush them.

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Where do you live and how do I befriend you?

(Assuming, of course, that your friends can drop in freely and ask to borrow a cup of stock.)

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I need to clear freezer space for more stock before I make any (for myself or anyone else!)! :joy:

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I suggest subscribing to the greencrab.org newsletter. it is the local source for all things green crab.

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That was a nice read and I was wondering why green crabs sounded familiar. Then I got to the part where sea otters eat green crabs in NorCal and remembered. BTW, my sister did her thesis on invasion crabs in SF back in the 90s. She was among the first IIRC. In any case, hope you guys enjoy.

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I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t adapt to the Atlantic, but I would be up for bringing in more sea otters in any way possible to combat the problem.

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