It's not too late for a crab feast

HUNTINGTOWN, Md. - Picking steamed blue crabs is a summer tradition, but this time of year is also a good time to buy them.

"Pretty much in the fall, the best price and quality are there at the end of the year," says Mel Brennan, owner of Mel's Crabs of Calvert County.

Every day of the crab season, his white box truck is parked along Route 4 in Huntingtown, selling live crabs by the dozen, half-bushel and bushel. He also sells two different kinds of crab spices by the bucketful.

Brennan's been in business since 1988, and the vast majority of crabs he sells throughout the year are caught locally. He says the number of crabbers who supply him varies, but right now it's about eight.

"Probably the best year I've seen in ten right now," says Brennan about how this year has been for crabs, "because we are getting a good quantity of crabs."

He adds that this crab season brought "some of the biggest crabs I've ever seen in the 22 years I've been in business."

He thinks recently introduced crab restrictions in Maryland and Virginia may be the reason.

For more information on where to get Mel's Crabs and a price list that changes weekly, click here.

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