• Who are we?
  Pontchartrain Blue Crab Inc is a seafood processor, importer and exporter with a primary focus on top quality crab products. It is our mission to offer our customers superior quality and consistent supply of the best seafood products available. With the launch of our new website, we are moving from primarily a wholesale supplier to a wholesale and retail supplier.
   
• Is PBC crab meat fully cooked?
  Yes, both fresh and pasteurized crab meat has been fully cooked and is ready to eat. Many people choose to use the meat as part of a prepared dish or recipe. When using PBC pasteurized crab meat, please use caution opening the containers, making sure to be careful around the metal ring. The container is NOT intended to be used as a serving dish.
   
• Why do I sometimes find shells in the crabmeat?
  The crab is an intricate and fascinating animal. Crab meat is tucked into several small compartments separated by a thin shell or cartilage. Our hand pickers are trained to remove as much shell as possible, but some shell fragments are difficult to remove because they are very thin and transparent. After picking, the crab meat is put through a thorough inspection to eliminate any remaining shell. Although we aim to eliminate 100% of the shell, we are limited by particle size constraints and by the amount of time the meat can be exposed to higher temperatures.
   
• What is the proper way to handle crab meat?
  Proper handling by the manufacturer is the most critical factor to establishing good quality shelf life of pasteurized crab meat. Shelf life is the storage time that a product has between the time of production and the time when it is no longer suitable for consumption. Processors must follow a stringent set of guidelines and record each step of production to create a product that will offer a maximum shelf life to home consumers, retailers, and food service facilities. Our process is inspected & meets HACCP standards.
  Storage temperature is a crucial factor in maintaining shelf life. Product that has undergone the pasteurization process and is stored between 32-35ºF will have a shelf life of up to one year. Buyers and users of large quantities of pasteurized crab meat need to maintain cool rooms at 32-35ºF and rotate the inventory so that the older meat is used first. Limited short-duration rises in cool room temperature (though not more than one hour at a time), even as high as 40ºF, are not critical. However, long-term storage above 38°F will shorten the projected shelf life of pasteurized crabmeat.
  In addition to a shortened shelf life, long-term storage of pasteurized crab meat may minutely change the flavor, color, and texture of the product. Users of pasteurized crabmeat should realize that these changes are more noticeable with longer-term storage and increase more rapidly with higher temperatures.
   
• How long does the product last in a home refrigerator, unopened and opened?
  Most of the same principles above apply to home use, but home consumers should realize that the majority of home refrigerators do not maintain a temperature that would be considered adequate for long-term storage of crabmeat. Therefore, unopened pasteurized crab meat being held in home refrigerators should be used within 60 days of the time it was purchased. Once the container has been opened, the product should be used within 5 days and must be kept refrigerated.
   
• Can I freeze Pontchartrain Blue Crab Inc pasteurized products?
  Yes, you can. If storage time longer than 60 days is required, then freezing of the product is recommended; however, the consumer needs to be aware that freezing will also change the flavor and texture of the crab meat. Freezing is a safe method for home preservation of crab meat, but should be used only when longer than recommended time is required between purchase and use. Store crab meat in home freezers at 10ºF or below for up to 3 months. If your freezer will not maintain 10ºF, then shorter shelf life will result. The plastic containers are susceptible to cracking. You may wish to remove the meat and use an airtight freezer bag instead. When using a freezer bag, expel all air and flatten the bag as much as possible so that the meat lies in a thin layer.
   
• What are the Differences in the Types of Crabmeat Offered?
  Lump or jumbo lump: The largest unbroken pieces of white meat from the body; the sweetest part.
  Backfin or special: White body meat, containing smaller and broken pieces of lump and flake meat; mild flavor.
  Claw: The darker meat from the claw; richer flavor, great for crab cakes.
  Fingers or claw fingers: For cocktails or appetizers, with part of claw pincer attached.
   
  The meat of the blue crab has a rich, sweet, succulent and buttery flavor. The body meat is delicately flavored, while claw meat is light nutty. Body meat is white, tender and flaky. Claw meat has a brownish tint, which is natural. Fresh blue-crab meat has a mild aroma. It can be used in pasta dishes, gumbo, stuffing, salads, or crab cakes!
   
• Can I order Pontchartrain Blue Crab Inc products online?
  Yes, with our new website we will be able to sell directly to consumers, both Wholesale & Retail. Wholesale buyers should check out the ''Wholesalers'' button on the home page for additional information.
   
• How do I pay for Pontchartrain Blue Crab products I order online?
  We use a Shopping Cart System. Just follow the prompts to complete your transaction.

Blue crab
Callinectes sapidus
(A.K.A. Blue claw crab)

Life History

The blue crab is an important bottom-dwelling predator and a member of the swimming crab family, Portunidae. It is widely distributed from Nova Scotia to northern Argentina, but along the coasts of North America, it is most abundant from Texas to Massachusetts. Blue crabs are opportunistic and will feed on a variety of live and dead fish, crabs, clams, snails, eelgrass, sea lettuce, and decayed vegetation. Male and female crabs can be distinguished by examining their segmented abdomen. The abdomen is folded and fitted snugly into a groove on the underside of the crab. The male's abdomen is long and slender, resembling an inverted "T". A female's abdomen changes as it matures; an immature female has a triangular shaped abdomen whereas, a mature female's is rounded.

Crabs grow by molting or shedding their shell. Just prior to molting, the crab is encased in both the hard, old outer shell and a soft, new one just beneath it. The formation of a new shell is evident along the margins of the swimming paddles of a crab. The earliest indication of the new skeleton is the formation of a black line along the rim of the paddles. When this line turns pink or red, the crab ts referred to as a "peeler" or "shedder". Immediately after the molt, the crab's new shell is pliable and easily stretched. In this condition, the crab is called a "soft crab" or a "soft shell crab". Large amounts of water are consumed prior to and shortly after the molt, causing the soft shell to expand and increase in size. This entire process takes 2-3 hours and within 2 hours after the shed, the new shell begins to harden. The "papershell" is formed within 12 hours and an additional 2-3 days are needed before the shell fully hardens. Unlike male crabs that continue to molt and grow throughout their entire lives, females stop growing when they reach sexual maturity, usually after 21 or 22 molts. During this final molt, mating takes place.

Blue crabs mate from May to October in the brackish or slightly salty waters of Chesapeake Bay. Just prior to the final molt, an immature female crab, known as a "she-crab", is cradled by a mature male. The female is escorted by the male, commonly referred to as a "doubler", for a few days before and after her molt. During the molt, the male releases the female, but remains nearby. After molting, the female turns on her back and unfolds her abdomen. The male then transfers his sperm to the female. Although the female mates only once, she may spawn several times. The sperm received is stored and used to fertilize the eggs of all future spawnings. After mating, the two crabs resume the cradle carry until the female's shell hardens. Shortly after mating, the now mature female crab, known as a sook, migrates to the saltier waters of the Bay near the ocean.  Adult males and immature females remain in the brackish waters of the Bay and its tributaries, migrating to shallow grassbeds, shallow muddy bottoms, and/or deeper waters of mid-Bay as temperatures begin to drop in the fall.

The female crab lays her eggs from 2 to 9 months after mating, depending upon when the mating took place.  For example, a spring mating would result in a late summer spawn, while a fall mating would result in an early summer spawn the following year. Females develop an external egg mass on the underside of their abdomen which may contain between 750,000 and 8 million eggs, depending on the size of the crab. Young sponges are orange and gradually turn to brown and then black as the sponge matures. These crabs are called "sponge crabs" and hatching of the eggs occurs in approximately 2 weeks from June through September.

The newly-hatched larvae are called zoea and look nothing like an adult crab. These young crabs are microscopic in size and drift about in the water currents. It is believed that the majority of these developing larvae are transported into the ocean by an interaction of seasonal winds and bottom water circulation patterns, and eventually returned to settle on seagrass beds in the spawning area. After approximately 6 or 7 molts, the zoea changes into a post-larval form known as the megalops. The megalops has claws like a crab, but can swim and crawl on the bottom. Eventually the megalops settles and metamorphoses to the first crab stage which looks much like an adult crab, but is only 1/5 of an inch from point to point. As these young crabs develop their locomotion, they will migrate away from the high salinity waters near the mouth of the Bay up to more brackish regions. By winter, juvenile crabs can be found as far north as the Susquehanna Flats.

As winter approaches, most crabs will bury themselves in the mud and shallow grassbeds of the Bay. Female crabs will remain in the higher salinity waters of the lower Bay, whereas males will remain in the upper portions, migrating to deeper waters to spend the winter months. little or no growth occurs from December to March, but when the temperature begins to rise, crabs become more active, begin feeding and searching for a mate.

Blue Crab:  Callinectes sapidus

Market forms:   Jimmies (males) and sooks (females) are available in many market forms: whole, live or steamed; fresh or occasionally frozen and pasteurized, a process which allows shelf life to be extended without changing taste, appearance or texture; cocktail claws; numerous value-added forms. Picked crabmeat is available in the following forms: Lump (backfin) - the highest quality; Flake ("special" or "regular") - the body meat; Claw - meat from appendages; Deluxe - combination lump and flake

Size:  Live or steamed, average between 5 to 7 inches across the back of the shell. Meat is available in 8, 12 and 16 oz. cups. Pasteurized meat is available in 16 oz. containers.

Taste/texture:  Sweet, delicate white and light meat. Backfin lumpmeat - solid lumps of white meat; perfect for use in recipes where appearance is important. Flake, special or regular - small pieces of white meat. Claw meat - brownish in color for use in recipes where appearance is less important.

Seasonality:  Available year round, crabs are meatier in the summer months when their feeding activity increases in response to the warmer waters.

Nutritional Value:  83 Calories (100 grams, 3.5 oz.)
                                18.1 % Protein
                                1.1 % Fat
                                .32% Omega-3

Habitat:  The blue crab is abundant in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, with fully half of all blue crabs harvested from Virginia waters.

Folklore:  Translation of its Latin name is ''beautiful swimmer," and indeed it is, for its legs allow it to rapidly outdistance its other bottom crawling crab relatives. The blue crab's common name is equally telling, recognizing the bright blue coloration of its claws. The female of the species is even more vivid, setting off her pincers with bright red tips.

Harvesting:  Blue crabs are generally caught in baited "crab pots" during summer months. In the winter, when they lie semi-dormant in bottom waters, dredging is the common form of harvesting.

Creative Ideas for Retail

If your customers are not already pre-sold on the sweet, delicate taste of blue crab, you can help sell them.

• Consider case-side samplings of fresh crab cakes or crab salad on tiny crackers.  Neither they nor you will be disappointed.
• Promoting your crab supply for maximum draw is simple, as the blue crab is so pretty and colorful.  Bury a bushel basket in ice and fill with cooked blue crab.  Display with fresh or pasteurized meat in close proximity for those who would forego picking their own for ready-to-eat convenience.
• If promoting whole crabs, cross merchandise with seafood seasoning, beer and plenty of paper towels or napkins.
• Picked crabmeat should be promoted in a more elegant vein.  Consider white wine and a basket brimming with spring asparagus, fresh mushrooms and bright red tomatoes.
• And don't forget the many possibilities of value-added crab products.  Available in fresh and frozen forms, crab-stuffed flounder, deviled crab, cocktail claws, crab cakes and crab spread can round out your crab selections.
• Crab is available in a variety of market forms, each calling for different handling procedures:
  • Fresh whole crabs should be alive, and should move their legs when touched.  The shell should not be slippery to the touch.
  • Cooked crabs have bright red shells and no disagreeable odor.  Life the lid under the body to detect any odor.
  • Pasteurized crab must be refrigerated between 32-36 degrees F.  It can stay fresh up to six months.
    If you are using ice to preserve fresh crabmeat, pack the containers in ice.  Do not directly ice the meat.