Stone Crab (Menippe mercenaria/adina)
Caranguejo-Uca (Ucides cordatus)
I love crab! There is nothing like a crab claw with fresh pepper sauce when I am at the beach in my hometown in Bahia. The sweet and unique flavor is perfect! Specially when you have already experienced the harvest of this curious crustacean in the mangroves. I remember going with my brother and cousins during the crab season with old buckets and wearing old shoes since I was only 5 years old with mud above my knees. It was hard to move across that mud so we used to shout at each other to know our whereabouts and we walked in pairs as an added safety measure. During the season, the crab does not go inside the burrow they make, they only walk around the mangrove and even over the aerial roots. We just needed to have a stick ready to pin them down right on top of the carapace, grab them from the back with the other hand and put them away in the bucket. The fun part was to meet everybody covered in mud to count who got the most and the biggest.
During my last visit to the Florida Keys, I decided to try the Stone Crab (Menippe mercenaria/adina) since this is the season (from October 15 through May 15), where they are captured in traps. They only remove the big claws and return the crab just to regenerate it back in 18 months. The first thing I noticed when comparing it with the Brazilian "Ucides cordatus" was the strong carapace. Then I understood why they usually serve it already cracked. It was then time to compare the flavor! Wow... lots of meat in the Stone Crab claw, but I feel that the Ucides cordatus is much more delicate and sweeter than his american relative.
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Eu amo caranguejo! Nada como uma pata de caranguejo com molho de pimenta fresquinho quando estou na praia na Bahia. O sabor adocicado e unico e' perfeito! Especialmente quando voce ja' teve a oportunidade de pescar este curioso crustaceo no mangue. Eu lembro de quando ia com meu irmao e primos na epoca que eles andavam com baldes velhos e usando sapatos velhos desde que eu tinha 5 anos com a lama acima do meu joelho. Era dificil caminhar na lama entao a gente gritava uns para os outros para saber onde estavamos e andavamos em pares por seguranca. Durante a epoca, o caranguejo nao entra no buraco que eles fazem, eles apenas andam pelo mangue e tambem nas raizes aereas. Apenas precisavamos de uma varinha para parar o caranguejo e pega-lo por tras com a outra mao e colocar no balde. A parte divertida era encontrar todos sujos de lama para contar quem pegou mais e o maior.
Durante minha ultima visita `as Keys (Florida), decidi experimentar o Stone Crab (Menippe mercenaria/adina) pois estava na estacao (de 15 de outubro a 15 de maio), onde sao capturados em armadilhas. Eles apenas tiram a pata grande e retornam o caranguejo para regenerar em 18 meses. O que logo percebi quando comparando com o "Ucides cordatus" brasileiro foi a carapaca mais resistente. Por isso entendi porque normalmente eles servem ja' partido. Entao era hora de comparar o sabor! Uau... muita carne no Stone Crab mas sinto que o Ucides cordatus e' mais delicado e adocicado que o parente americano.
