From October 15 through May 15, travelers on their Florida beach vacation can enjoy a favorite Florida dish: stone crab claws. The crabs are harvested daily, ensuring that visitors to Florida resorts receive the freshest seafood possible.

Stone crabs, which live mainly along the Gulf Coast, are harvested each year for their sweet and succulent claw meat. An interesting fact that travelers on a Florida beach vacation may not know is that stone crabs are a renewable resource: once their claws are removed, the live crabs are put back in the ocean where their claws will regenerate in one to three years. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, about 40% of the total harvest comes from the waters off of the Florida Keys.

Visitors on their Florida beach vacation will certainly enjoy eating stone crab claws in the traditional manners. Claws are generally cooked immediately upon being brought to dock by placing them in boiling water. When the claws are hot, restaurants at fine Florida resorts such as Longboat Key Club & Resort serve them with melted butter. When they are served cold, the traditional sauce served is something like honey mustard. Locals offer this advice to visitors on a Florida beach vacation: skip the shell crackers and just smack the shell with the back of a spoon to get a clean break!

The meat of stone crab claws is very nutritious and has a texture and flavor similar to lobster. Whether you want medium, large, jumbo, or colossal sized stone crab claws, you’re sure to enjoy this limited-time treat during your Florida beach vacation!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Florida Resort. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.