She crab soup was popular in Charleston restaurants before it became a restaurant dish. It was often made at home by local cooks. The creamy concoction, studded with crab meat and roe, then spiked with sherry, was highly prized. Consider this ditty appearing in the iconic cookbook, “Charleston Receipts”:
A soup to remember! The feminine gender of crabs is expedient – the secret ingredient. The flavor essential makes men reverential who taste this collation and cry acclamation.
This was before the 1990s shrimp and grits craze. That’s when chefs in the area dressed up the simple Charleston dish “shrimps and hominy,” which has roots in both Native American and Gullah cuisine, and brought it into the fine dining world.
She crab soup is a classic dish in coastal South Carolina and Georgia made from the meat and roe of female blue crabs. But what exactly is a “she crab” and what makes it different from other crabs? In this article we’ll take an in-depth look at the she crab – its biology, habitat, and culinary uses.
Anatomy of a She Crab
She crabs are, quite simply, mature female blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) that are carrying eggs. They can be identified by the bright orange egg mass visible under their abdominal flap. This egg mass is known as the “sponge” and contains around 2 million eggs!
The blue crab itself has a hard shell that is actually a brownish-green color, with bright blue claws. Their shells span around 5-7 inches across. Blue crabs have 10 legs in total, with their first set modified into large, powerful pincers. These pincers are used for defense, hunting, and tearing apart food.
One key thing that separates she crabs from male crabs or immature females is their abdomen shape. Mature females have a broad, triangular abdomen to accommodate egg production.
Habitat and Life Cycle
Blue crabs live in estuaries and coastal waters from Nova Scotia down to Argentina. But they are most abundant in the waters of the Atlantic seaboard and Gulf of Mexico.
After mating, the male crab continues about its business while the female stores the sperm to fertilize multiple egg clutches. She crabs produce 2-3 egg masses over the course of a spawning season.
The females migrate towards the ocean to hatch their eggs, seeking saltier waters to aid larval development. After releasing her eggs, the female buries herself in sand or mud and cares for the eggs as they grow. This whole process takes around 2 weeks.
Once hatched, the tiny crab larvae float and feed in the ocean for around 30 days as they transition into juvenile crabs. These young crabs eventually make their way back into estuaries and coastal waters. Here they will molt and grow over 2-3 years to reach sexual maturity.
Culinary Uses for She Crabs
The trademark orange roe or eggs contained in the she crab make it a treasured delicacy, especially in classic Charleston and Savannah cuisine. She crab soup is the most famous dish, made rich and decadent with cream and sherry. The sweet crab meat and the salty umami bite of the roe combine for an unforgettable flavor.
Most she crab soup recipes call for using both the crab meat and roe. The meat is dolled into the soup, while the roe is stirred in as a thickener. Some recipes may use crab stock made from shells for extra flavor.
The she crab itself should be cooked gently to preserve the delicate texture of the meat and roe. Many recipes call for adding the crab meat right at the end to lightly heat through.
Beyond soup, she crab meat can be featured in a variety of seafood appetizers and entrees. The rich roe also pairs wonderfully with crackers, toast points, and butter.
While blue crab roe is edible year-round, she crabs are in peak season during spring and summer spawning seasons. This is when their egg clutches will be ripest. Locating she crabs takes some work, as crab meat is often preprocessed. Asking local fishermen is your best bet for finding whole mature female crabs.
Conservation Status of Blue Crabs
While still abundant along much of their range, some blue crab populations have shown concerning declines. Habitat loss, poor water quality, and overfishing pressure all contribute to reduced stocks.
To protect future generations of she crabs, sustainability practices are key. Size and catch limits help prevent overharvest of egg-bearing females. Gentler harvesting methods like traps rather than dredges reduce damage to seafloor habitats. And giving female crabs a chance to spawn at least once improves stock resilience.
As lovers of she crab soup, supporting sustainable fisheries is in our best interest. Choosing crabs harvested with care helps protect these special seafood delicacies. With conscientious management, she crabs can continue delighting palates for generations to come.
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She crab soup was popular in Charleston restaurants before it became a restaurant dish. It was often made at home by local cooks. The creamy concoction, studded with crab meat and roe, then spiked with sherry, was highly prized. Consider this ditty appearing in the iconic cookbook, “Charleston Receipts”:
A soup to remember! The feminine gender of crabs is expedient – the secret ingredient. The flavor essential makes men reverential who taste this collation and cry acclamation.
This was before the 1990s shrimp and grits craze. That’s when chefs in the area dressed up the simple Charleston dish “shrimps and hominy,” which has roots in both Native American and Gullah cuisine, and brought it into the fine dining world.
History of She Crab Soup
She crab soup has also been reborn. Its first life was as partan bree, a broth with cream and crab that was brought to South Carolina by a wave of Scotch-Irish settlers in the 1700s. French and Creole cooking styles have led cooks to brown roux to thicken crab soup over the years, though some just used a flour or cornstarch slurry.
In the early 1900s, William Deas, a highly skilled African chef and butler for then-Charleston mayor, R. Goodwyn Rhett, tweaked a pot of crab soup in the kitchen of the historic John Rutledge House by adding a glossy, red-orange cluster of crab roe to the pot. Not only did the roe give the soup a velvety orange hue, but it added body and infused it with a savory tang that offset the sweetness of the crab and sherry to prime advantage.
The new twist was liked by the mayor and his wife, who gave the recipe to a nearby newspaper. Around the 1930s, many home cooks in the area served the soup, and their dinner guests slurped it up quickly.
When Deas was hired to run the kitchen at Everetts Restaurant, he added the soup to the menu. It quickly became the chain’s most famous dish and a classic in Charleston.
South Carolina She-Crab Soup with Chef Michelle Weaver
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