Wholesale Maine Lobsters Best Wholesale Lobster Prices Sold By The Pound
The highest grade is hard shell grade A and commands the highest price. The lesser grades are all scaled by firmness and vitality,
The next grade A/B is still proportionally a hard lobster but some
Grade B is included because they get by the graders (it's very hard to
tell when you are grading thousands of lobsters a day). Grade B
lobsters have already molted some time ago and now and are reforming a
harder shell but it contain more meat than shedders. Not as much as
the A+ grade. Now come the Maine lobsters that have shed recently.
They are split into two industrial grades called Markets (to be sold to
customers) and Canners (lobsters of such low quality that they are all
cooked for meat at processing plants) Markets can come in various
degrees of quality. Some cook up just fine. Some cook up mushy.
Mortality in shipping is high. So whole sellers take their chances
buying B, B/C and C grades. Sometimes they are called beer can lobsters
because you can squeeze them like a beer can. Some times they are
referred to as junk that should have gone to the canneries. They are
often sold locally, so shipping time is not a problem. But they do not
travel well and have little meat in them and they more than likely cook
up mushy and soggy. They are not worth buying for quality functions. In fact
entire lobster parties have been ruined because they received low
quality lobsters. You should not buy by price, you should get to know
and trust your lobster dealer. Our company New England Provisions
switched to shipping only Grade A and it has made our business easier
to do because of no complaints. Always call a week
before you order to see what the market is doing. We can then be
prepared for your order and select your lobster to be set aside the day
before shipping. If you have the room in your refrigerator or your
garage is 45-50 degrees, you should request delivery the day before you
are going to eat them. Weather plays a big part in shipping by air
because of storm delays.
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. 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 careful grading or pan weighing. 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 Mold on the lobsters back side. When they lose their antennas; they lose the ability to preen themselves and mold grows.
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 thee 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. 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. 11. Fresh from the boats and right into the box for shipping. Well this may be but it is the wrong thing to do. 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, the lobster was not purged. It's just not good sense to ship lobsters without purging them first. It is unsanitary and unappetizing.