Blue crabs and blue crab soup
Blue crabs have an olive green carapace and blue crab claws distinguish these crustaceans. They have three pairs of walking legs and rear swimming legs that resemble paddles. Male blue crabs may mate several times a season, while females mate only once in their lifetimes. Males are called "jimmies," and mature females are are called "sooks." The average life span of a blue crab is one to four years. They weigh from one to two pounds.
Rainy season was crab soup time. Oh yes, cleaning those crabs in the back yard was fun. The eggs were kept in tack and once cooked it turns a bright red to orange in color.
The pot seem so large back then. Gramps would go hiking/hitchhiking to the Northern Highway near Haulover Bridge to catch the large blue crabs with giant claws. He would take his Kis-Kis (a thong made from Cohune Palm) and fill his crocus sack with them.
It was prepared with freshly grated coconut milk, brown flour rue, carrots, bell peppers, onions, okra, seasoning, and lard. Let’s not forget the Matilda Foot (grated half-riped plantains mixed with a little baking powder, salt and black Pepper. The mixture was then spoon into balls and dropped into the soup as it was close to finish cooking). To top it off, fresh Habanero was added to give it that final kick.
Served with rice cooked in coconut milk. We weren’t allowed to eat this fish in the house, the backyard was our seating area. The table of choice was sitting on top of the concrete septic tank or on a plastic bucket. You know the large plastic ones that pigtail came in.
A bowl would be shared with the neighbors. You know everyone will get a bellyful! If it was cooked during the school weekdays us kids were allowed to stay home in the afternoon just for the feast. It’s one of those dishes that takes time to enjoy and I do believe my grandfather loved sitting with his kids in the backyard having his soup.
If you visit Belize try it. I guarantee you you will love it! Be sure to get the meat from every crab leg and suck out the juice. We use our teeth to crack them legs and claws so don’t cheat. Some young Belizeans still living in Belize refuse to eat it. Do not even know the excitement we used to have catching those crabs, emptying the crocus bags, chasing down escapees, cleaning them. Not interested. Some of them won't even eat cowfoot soup either.
I see them running into their holes at canal side. I know folk would go catch them near the canal and graveyard where the would sell them. My gramps went to the river. I have to defend them crabs the canal was worse.
The odor is foul I guess that was why we weren’t allowed to eat it in the house. Curry crab was my favorite, I would suck the juice from each leg and you know my plate was full.
Steve Douglas Swasey: you can have mine as well. I use to catch them on the Northern Highway by Haulover Bridge using a kiss-kiss as well but it was for my neighbors. To this day I can't stand the smell of that blue crab soup. And if I can't stand the smell, I'm simply not going to eat it. "Foul" is putting it mildly. It just plain stunk like a dead skunk in the middle of the road.
George Ivan Sosa:
Fond memories of crab catching up the northern highway by Shell depot. Those days Belama did not exist. We kids from Kings Park would ride out on bikes and kis kis and catch crabs all evening, then bring home for parents to make crab soup. We also would catch crabs along the north cement fence of Santos Diaz & Sons. BWS compound did not exist back then, only mangrove and brackish water where the lines of crabs would tumble from the cement foundation to the water. You had to rush to catch them.
Alvaro Papi Varela Jr.:
Did dat with the Perezes on Castle St. Go get crabs. Get stick and poke the hole so they cant back up in it. Then kis kis come out.
Mario Lara:
I grew up in Ladyville and remember all the crushed crabs on the road. I tried the land crab soup once but didn't like it. Sea crab - yes!
Michelle Rosado: we still have those...in the city now too. Lots of punctured tires. I have learned to de-stress at crab crossings. There are areas where they cross the street by the hundreds.
Marcia Bladen:
Put them in crocus sack and bring them home put in bath pan with hot water and clean them ; fun fun for me growing up
Joselito Zaldivar:
Wow! We use to kill those as kids on Caye Caulker but I do remember when the first Garifuna family came to Caye Caulker they use to catch them to eat. I’ve never had that for dinner we always killed them. Only thing we ate were the stone crabs and raati.
Paul Pollard:
Yes, yes I've had blue crab soup. We used to go up pass Haulover Bridge on foot where the blue crabs were abundant and bring back a krocos bag full!
Delarai Sanchez:
I remember eating it. Granny was the cook. During holiday times when school was out, we would go to Mullins River. The family would walk along the sea side and catch them using Kia Kia. They were placed in a large silver pan in water and I think epson salt. The water was changed several times.
Sometimes the feet were removed after boiling and the kids would sit on the steps and eat those as we listened to anansi stories. The adults would be cooking the crab stew.
Those were wonderful days. Thanks to our departed elders. They did us good.
Carol S Belizeanborn:
I remember going un a station wagon with family to catch them with the long tongs and putting them in a crocus bag. There were so many you could hear them crunching under the car's wheel. They would cover the road.
Michelle Rivana Buckley: yes that cracking sound sometimes you would see the old men on the side of the road catching them.
Eugene Trench:
Before there were no Fabers Road Extention, Backa Martins on the South of the city .No Belama 1,2,3,4,&5, no West Landivar, Buttonwood Bay and residential areas from Flour Mill to Haulover Bridge along the Northern Highway ( now it’s Philip Goldson Highway)on the North side. Those areas were all Mangrove Swamps full of mosquitoes and other insects and yes that famous crustacean the Blue Crab or Land Crab as we use to call them, the big ones with the huge claws we called Bo Crab the other smaller ones were just named Crab.When the long awaited rainy season comes in May/ June the holes in the swamps became filled with water and after the downpour later the sun comes out hot and after weeks and months the water in the holes somehow gets hot which is unbearable to the crabs, this is when the crabs can’t take the boiling water and start to run which signaled the start of Crab Season. On weekends or during the Summer was the best time .Wire start shaping into hooks, the famous Kiss Kiss use in fire hearth cooking became a must tool to make the catch a success, krocus sack which sugar, beans came in we’re reserve early from the grocery shop owners sometimes a barter would happen between the grocery shop owners and the crab catching crew if you give me the sack would bring some crab for you. Most people in those days didn’t cook on gas stove but on Fire Hearth, the wood would be gathered and the other ingredients would be ready . The pot would begin to boil awaiting the crustaceans . The area on the Northern between Flour Mill& Haulover Bridge became crowded with people men, women and children holding on to their krocus sack in one hand and wire and kiss kiss in the other sometimes team work comes in as the children hold open the sack whilst the elders do the catching and put in the sack. The crabs were so many that instead of who having the best area, it was free for all, you could pick, choose and refuse . The big ones with the huge claws were called Bo Crab and the smaller ones just crab, those Bo Crab was the prize the more Bo Crab the more meat in the pot and you will be praised as an expert crab catcher. While catching your imaginary mind start clicking of how it would feel to crack that big claw in your mouth and savor the succulent juicy meat in it.
Back home the Matilda Foot(grated plantains mix with coconut milk shape in little round ball or whichever shape preferred mixed with coconut milk ) potatoes, cocoa, cassava, carrots and other ground food and vegetables and rich coconut milk from grated coconut (remember in those days no ready made milk in packs were available it’s the dry coconut grated ) , of your choice would be ready to add to the pot.
Today that tradition seems to become extinct, with the clearing of the mangroves and filling up of the swampy areas to accommodate residential and business areas the crabs seems less nd less. Where once mangroves flourished and swamps were now houses and businesses now stood majestically in the area. You have to search high and low to try find some good crabs. No longer the smell the aroma of the crab pot whilst passing in the streets, once upon a time nearly every neighborhood would have one or more pot cooking on the fire hearth, perhaps still done with the older countryside folks but rarely in the city, in fact the once famous fire hearth is being replaced with gas or electric stoves. Sometimes which is rarely you would see someone with their catch when crab the run but not in abundance like yesteryears, when ask the elderly no crab soup today the answer would be “ dey young one complain bout the crab haad fu clean, or tu had fun catch or a no no fu ketch it “ this famous dish is becoming less and less . A Big kudos to those creole restaurants and homes who still could cook up a nice delicious pot.
Always wonder how this crustacean that once stirred the pots on the fire hearths, graced dinner tables satisfied our appetites and become part of our culture?