For many in Washington state, summer begins on Memorial Day, a day when family and friends gather in the backyard to eat piles of steamed crab.
For many in Washington state, summer begins on Memorial Day, a day when family and friends gather in the backyard to eat piles of steamed crab.
On the Thursday before Memorial Day, customers were already heading down to the D.C. docks to pick out blue crabs from Jesse Taylor Seafood.
“Right now it’s crab season,” Jesse Taylor manager Stan Kaiser told WTOP.
If I wanted a meaty crab, I would choose a male crab, which is easily identified by the outline of the “Washington Monument” on its apron (the crab’s white underside).
In contrast, the outline of the woman closely resembles the U.S. Capitol building. Turning one over to demonstrate the difference, Kaiser said, “It’s crazy how this turned out.”
“We always ate the males (as kids). We never ate the females,” Kaiser said.
The difference is also reflected in the price.
“Right now, with the holiday weekend, extra-large males are $104 a dozen. Extra-large females are $79,” Kaiser said. “So there’s quite a difference.”
When asked how customers prefer their crabs, they replied that steamed crab is the standard.
“They definitely want spices,” he said, “and we use a Baltimore company called JO Spice. We’ve been doing business with them for years. They make special blends just for us.”
“You have to have it steamed with a little spice,” one customer, who identified himself only as Polo, told WTOP.
When asked what his favorite drink is to accompany his mountain of steamed crabs, Polo says he drinks whatever is in the house, and then, perhaps evoking a childhood memory, he says, “We used to have good Kool-Aid on the table.” When asked what it tastes like, he thinks for a moment and then says, “Oh, the blue one!”
At a counter piled high with crabs for sale, a woman pondered her options. Eron Kamara, from Delaware, said she enjoys catching and eating crabs in the summer, but when asked the best way to prepare them, she replied, “I have no idea! Maybe I should boil them in a crab boil?”
But as Kaiser said, spice is also important.
“I like my crabs heavily seasoned.”
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