Live crabs

by Scott
(Richmond, VA)

Is it safe to eat blue crabs after being on ice for 24 hours?

After 24 hrs on ice I am going to have to guess that your crab were dead and dead crab are BAD crab. As crab die, they release toxins into their bodies and make all the meat unfit for consumption. In the future if you are unable to cook them basically right away, then I would suggest that you clean them live (not for the squeamish) and then you can keep the legs/knuckle on ice for 24hrs no problem. Enjoy!

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How long can you keep marinated crab claws on ice?

by Darlene
(Gautier, MS)

How long can you keep marinated crab claws on ice?

We don't think it would hurt to keep your marinated crab claws on ice for a few days granted they are wrapped up properly. You could even store them in the freezer after properly packaging them and they should keep for a few months.

Putting Crab On Ice

by Crab-O-Licious.com
(Pacific Northwest)

Crab-O-Licious.com would like to expound on an important issue about putting crab on ice before getting them on to boil. We understand some crabbers, including ourselves, like to go out on the great salt water blue and stay a day or two and fill our catch cards, then, take them home and package them for the freezer and crack a few, slathering them in hot melted butter. It's all good.
But we feel a need to expound on putting crab on ice for a day or two. When you do choose to do this, it's very, very important that you clean the crabs FIRST while they are still alive (NOT for the squeamish). After they are cleaned, THEN, and only then would it be safe to put just the legs/knuckle meat on ice before getting them home.
After you get the crab home, then, you still want to boil them.
We offer our apologies for any confusion we may have caused in the past. This is our final answer! (Can we buy a vowel?) Enjoy crab! Catch 'em! Clean 'em! Cook 'em! Eat 'em!

Dungeness Crabs On Ice

I didn't plan on purchasing dungeness crabs off the boat yesterday, though, I did put them on ice right away. Today, 24 hours later and still in the ice chest, am I still able to boil them?

Were the dungeness crabs cleaned before putting them on ice? If the crabs were cleaned first, then, yes, by all means, go ahead and steam those legs and enjoy the heck out them!
If the crabs were not cleaned first, we are not sure we would bother with them now, 24 hours later. Has the ice melted at all? Whether or not you now want to boil the crabs or clean them and then boil them will be a tough call. We'll leave that up to you! 24 hours on ice is a long time to keep whole crabs, in our honest opinion, and we would not recommend it.