MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 19, 2023
What would happen if you changed up a seafood recipe to help solve the problem of invasive green crabs wreaking havoc on the coast of Maine? With the help of an $83,000 grant from Maine Sea Grant, a team has mixed hundreds of pounds of frozen green crab carcasses – some whole, some minced, some shells only – with salt and sometimes a microbial culture or two, packed the mixtures into fermenting crocks, and stored them at varying ambient temperatures to find the right balance of funky flavor. They’ve sent small amounts of their trial Maine green crab sauce to 20 chefs and fish sauce aficionados throughout the Northeast. Ali Waks Adam said, “We could be holding in this little bottle a sauce that is both helping to solve an ecological problem and helping cooks make delicious plates of food.” ~ Christine Burns Rudalevige