Live Dungeness crab is one of BC Coast’s seafood delights and your fisherman Stewart has been working hard at crabbing along the Sunshine Coast and English Bay. We want our Skipper Otto’s members to enjoy every last delicious morsel of crab you will be picking up throughout the season, so here are some quick tips on how to best handle and store your crabs.

The most important thing to remember is that keeping Dungeness crabs alive before cleaning, boiling or freezing them is a must for your safety. Once the crabs are dead, they must be cooked right away, otherwise the meat will spoil pretty quickly. This happens with all crustaceans, and especially with lobster and crab, due to the most important and flavorful part of their body, the midgut gland or most commonly know as the liver. Once crabs are dead, the enzymes of this gland start attacking the meat from the inside, turning it into mush. Still, do not despair!

There are some simple and safe ways to avoid this! Keep the live crabs cool, damp and well aerated. Come to the pick up with a cooler to place them in, and cover them with a towel and salt water. Do not put the crabs in fresh water, as they might die due to lack of oxygen. Stir the water every now and then to replenish the oxygen. Kept cool, damp and aerated your crabs have high chances of staying alive even over night.

All these being said, our safest advice would be to just steam them the same day you pick them up, even if this means doing a little bit more work once you get home, before you can relax into your evening. At Skipper Otto’s we say it’s not worth the risk waiting, as there is little difference in taste between a crab just cooked and one cooked yesterday. You can keep cooked crab refrigerated for up to 3 days, until making it into your favorite dish.

Following these tips both you and your crabs will stay healthy and happy! Enjoy!