Commercial Processing and Value-Added Production

[Green Crab Man]

Does anyone have any research articles pertaining to commercial processing and value-added production of crabs?

[DipNSip]

Try searching/googling "Chitin". Thats the shell by product that's been going through research for years. Also, I believe Mike Rowe (Dirtiest Jobs) had an episode at a processing plant here on the Eastern shore of Maryland.

[tattoo]

Yes they did do a thing on DIRTY JOBS, 

[horsefly]

I guess you mean as in what other ideas or uses can you do with crabs enhance their value. It's been and being done at the moment. Crabmeat proccesors take the live crab, superchill it, then remove the shell,guts and gills. They are then placed in styrofoam trays sealed in bags and blast frozen. Actually the are done by weight.....1lb trays are usually for home use people making gumbo (that's how they are marketed most of the time) the other is bulk 5-10 bag for commerical use. The industry now adds garlic, butter season, lemon pepper, cajun etc etc before they are frozen. I cant recall or remember tha far back, but somewhere hidden in this forum, is some answers to your question, prolly in better detail

[CrabDog]

I know my uncles crab picking house down in NN of VA they take the shells, and rest of the by products and grind it up into a dry meal to be used as fertilizer / calcium supplement for gardens and plants...
That would be a value added by product...

[horsefly]

I know my uncles crab picking house down in NN of VA they take the shells, and rest of the by products and grind it up into a dry meal to be used as fertilizer / calcium supplement for gardens and plants...
That would be a value added by product...

Yep.....that [curd] smells when it being dehydrated.......eeeeewwwww. Nothing like the smell of crab carcases burning in the morning......smells like......money?  LOL  But Doggy is right, it goes to fertilzer/dog-cat food/chicken-pig feed....speaking of which, if ya have some hogs you are trying to fatten up, go to your local picking house and fill your pick up with the scrap....pigs love that stuff.

[CrabDog]

Yep.....that [curd] smells when it being dehydrated.......eeeeewwwww. Nothing like the smell of crab carcases burning in the morning......smells like......money?  LOL  But Doggy is right, it goes to fertilzer/dog-cat food/chicken-pig feed....speaking of which, if ya have some hogs you are trying to fatten up, go to your local picking house and fill your pick up with the scrap....pigs love that stuff.

HF,  how do you know about the pigs loving crab scraps...?  Sorry I just had to ask...?  Do you have pigs...?

[jdroat]

Yep.....that [curd] smells when it being dehydrated.......eeeeewwwww. Nothing like the smell of crab carcases burning in the morning......smells like......money?  LOL  But Doggy is right, it goes to fertilzer/dog-cat food/chicken-pig feed....speaking of which, if ya have some hogs you are trying to fatten up, go to your local picking house and fill your pick up with the scrap....pigs love that stuff.

Why are we now talking about my wife . Man talk about hijacking in the winter

[tattoo]

You can tell it is slow around here. 

[horsefly]

HF,  how do you know about the pigs loving crab scraps...?  Sorry I just had to ask...?  Do you have pigs...?

Nope  dont, wifes uncle has some he does on a small commerical side, sells them locally to the meat farm. Then there is a couple of old guys who used to haul it off in a pick-up truck, about 1000 lbs, said it was the best, cheapest feed around. Heck the  soft crab operation down the street, used to take the scraps from that and feed a neighbors pig.

[Green Crab Man]

I'm trying to design an experiment that enhances the mechanical extraction of green crab for value-added production using different processing techniques. I'm thinkning of using a 2x3 factorial design with 2 as the 'deboner' speed and 3 as prior cook time. I don't think I will see any significant results in ease of extraction from different cook times but the microbial load should decrease.

Or I could do a 2x2 design with 2 as the speed of the 'deboner' and 2 as cooked/washed and cooked/non-washed. It's tough thinking of novel and significant ideas.

Anyone ever hear of using sodium tripolyphospahte or other constiuents to enhance blue crab meat?

[rockinchef]

That chemical is used on different seafoods as a preservative mainly scallops , never heard of it being used on crabmeat but I will say it does change the flavor and texture