To Buy:
Sold whole, cooked and green (uncooked). For green or cooked Blue Swimmer crabs: limbs should be intact and have no discolouration. Lift a crab and shake before buying - there should be no sound of sloshing water and be heavy in proportion to size.
To Store:
Wrap in plastic wrap, foil, or store in airtight container in refrigerator up to 3 days. Otherwise you can freeze up to 3 months providing your freezer operates at –18ºC.
Tips & Tricks:
For green or cooked crabs, lift the flap on the underside of the crab and lever off the top shell in one piece; keep the top shell for presentation if needed. Remove the gills or spongy parts under the shell, these are known are as dead men’s fingers. Rinse lightly. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the crab into quarters and crack the claws with the back of knife or a nut cracker, this will allow flavours to penetrate in cooking.
One serve of crab is equivalent to about 1 1/3 cups.
Cooking Tips:
Green blue swimmer crabs can be stir-fried, steamed, barbecued or baked. Do not re-cook cooked crabs. The crabs will change to a bright orange colour when they are cooked. Cooked blue swimmer crabs are great eaten straight out of the shell or combined with salad to go further.