| Know the source of the Maine Lobsters |
Questionable live lobster marketing, selling and shipping methods.
You should be aware of common irregular selling practices.
This is important information for wholesale and retail buyers.
You could end up with inferior or over priced product.
NOT ALL LOBSTERS ARE OF EQUAL QUALITY!
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Somethings you should look for when dealing with a Maine lobster whole seller or local fishmonger.
1. Quickly drops their price when told there is a lower quote. Basically he was overcharging you in the first place on a lower grade or is switching you order to a lower grade and price.
2. Being told that the lobsters are all hard shelled and then receiving a mix or lesser grade.
3. Size variation is very important for your customer or guests. No one wants the smallest lobster. If you ordered 1.5 pound lobsters and you received 1.20 to 2 pound sizes. Your dealer bought a spread or raft of ungraded lobsters to save money. If the lobsters are for a big party stand by for complaints from your customers. Graded lobster always costs a little more. Ask for assurance of careful grading. Pan weighing of each lobster is a possibility for small orders but for large orders will add a little to the cost.
Our lobsters are carefully graded, pan weighing is not necessary.
4. The dealer brings out a hard lobster for you to see before you buy. Well he does have the advantage of picking out the best of the lot. But if he delivers something else, why buy from them again. You can test for real hard shell lobsters. Put the lobster on the floor and step on the crusher claw. Balance yourself and lift your other foot off the floor. A hard shell won't break of course you have to take in account your size. A 200 pound man will not break the claw. You can check another way by trying to break the claw with the common nut cracker. Hard shell will not crack. There claws are as hard as pottery.
5.Fresh caught myth. Your fishmonger tells you that all the lobsters are fresh caught and are hard shelled. This is easy to verify. Lobsters that have been stored in a tank for a long time have no antennas and may be missing legs. They have been in the tank so long they are being cannibalized by the other lobster. They have been nibbled on for food.
6. Fuzz or Black Mold on the lobsters back side. When they lose their antennas; they lose the ability to preen themselves and mold grows. They have been stored way too long.
7. Mud in the joints or black discoloration. These lobsters have been crated and then put back in the harbor on the muddy bottom. Through the winter. Up north the harbors freeze over and the lobsters are unavailable to the dealer until the spring. They usually are low quality. Watch out for bargains in the spring. The dealers are dumping their inventory because new caughts are coming in at a lower price than inventory cost.
8. Pin holes in the carapace. This is a weakening disease caused by parasites and lack of nutrition.
9. Late in the season (March), tanked lobsters become malnourished. You can't feed lobsters in captivity; it causes bacteria problems. It's why they nibble on each other.
10. Lobsters do not cook up well and have a weird taste to them. The lobsters fat reserves are gone. The meat is often unpalatable. Stored too long in a tank or harbor crate.
11. Fresh right off the boats and right into the box for shipping. Well this may be but it is the wrong thing to do, unless you live right next to the harbor. The lobsters need to rest from 24 to 48 hours in a clean water environment with no food to eat. In this way they are able to purge their system of waste. You can tell when you open up the tail. If the canal is black (full of waste), the lobster was not purged. It's just not good sense to ship lobsters without purging them first. It is unsanitary and unappetizing. Besides, quality shippers know that it increases mortality to ship without purging.
12. When purchasing wholesale for a large party 700 lbs to 2000 lbs; you need to know your dealer.
Now you may know your local dealer but you do not know there supplier for large quantities of lobsters and they may not know there supplier all that well. When a local small seafood supplier has an offer for a very large order; there is the chance that they will shop around to make a lower price buy. Does it make sense, maybe. But if they deal with a large supplier and the supplier senses that the buyer is buying on price before quality; a lower quality, badly sorted, incorrectly packed shipment may be delivered to you. If the party is the day of arrival; you could be up the creek with unsorted, weak or dead lobsters, badly packed. I have heard this story too many times to appreciate how easily price and quality get mixed up in the purchasing of large amounts of lobsters for big lobster bakes. I just talked to a chef yesterday, May 20, 2010, that told me that the year before he received 800 dead lobsters a couple of hours before the guests were to arrive and he was in Idaho (not a lobster source state). Horror stories, there are many that I have heard. There are many very, reputable, well established Maine lobster suppliers that always supply superior product. KNOW YOUR SOURCE. ASK YOUR LOCAL SUPPLIER WHICH COMPANY YOUR LOBSTERS ARE BEING SOURCED. If they do not tell you; look around for another supplier.
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