If you can make lemonade from lemons, you can make whiskey from invasive green crabs -small, green, crustaceans.
And now, they’re in whiskey.
Green crabs are the invasive pests that have plagued North America’s marine ecosystems for more than 200 years. A New Hampshire distillery is taking on the problem by using them to make green crab-flavoured whiskey. These green crabs are so abundant that it is definitely going to take a lot more than whiskey to curb the population.
Tamworth Distilling’s Crab Trapper whiskey has decided to use these crabs wisely by having them as one of its flavours. These crabs were known to have proverbially hitched a ride to the United States on ships coming from Europe around the 1800s and are guilty of eating tons of shellfish and destroying estuaries and fish habitats.
Will Robinson, the product developer at Tamworth Distilling who had the idea for the project, said the crabs were cleaned and prepared just like any other crab you might order at a restaurant.
First, they make a crab stock. Then, they distill it using a vacuum still — a glass machine that allows for precise temperature control. This preserves the flavour and aroma molecules that would get destroyed if it were to be boiled.
The stock is then mixed with spices, such as mustard seed, coriander, and cinnamon – then combined with a bourbon base.
Climate change is making things worse. Warmer ocean temperatures offer more hospitable environments for the invasive crab to thrive. These distillers are hoping their solution which is like a drop in the ocean when it comes to battling these invasive crabs will be caught by the global community so multiple solutions can be provided.
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