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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Lobster
By Lee Dobbins, Fri Dec 9th
Ever wonder what lobsters eat, or why they are red? How aboutthe right way to cook them and what that green stuff is? Here'ssome interesting facts about our favorite summer meal. We love to eat them, but what do they eat? Lobsters crawlaround the bottom of the sea hunting for food at night. Althoughthey will eat dead food, they subsist primarily on crabs, clams,fish, mussels and sea urchins - they eat over 100 differenttypes of seafood and plants. They live in rocky areas off thecoast and hide in the rocks and seaweed during the day andforage at night. Lobsters can live to be 140 years or more andcan travel 100 miles in a year! Once interesting thing aboutlobsters is their coloring. Of course, when we picture them wethink of them as being red but that is only after they arecooked. When alive they are greenish brown, blue, yellow andeven white. There actually are some reddish colored ones too,but the bright red that we think of is only after they arecooked. Lobsters molt (shed their shell) in order to grow. Lobsters canalso regenerate their claws, legs and antennae, but did you knowthat they can drop a leg or claw at will and walk away toregenerate another one later? And what about cooking? Should you boil them or is that cruel?Contrary to popular
belief they do not have vocal cords so theywon't scream when you plunge them into boiling water! And thebest way to cook them is to boil or steam them, but don'tovercook or the meat will be rubbery.Inside a is some interesting stuff. Aside from the sweetwhite meat, lobsters have other strange substances in unusualcolors! You may find that when you first open your lobster,there is a white goopy stuff between the meat and the shells -this is their blood (it is clear while they are alive and turnswhite when cooked). It has no taste and is harmless so you caneither wash it off or eat it! And what about the icky green stuff inside the body? That's thelobsters liver or digestive system. Commonly called tomalley, itis safe to eat but since it is the liver it would most likely bethe waste basket for all the toxins circulating through thecreature so you may want to just discard it and move on to thegood stuff.
And the red stuff? A female carries it's unfertilizedeggs, or roe, under the tail. These are a
bright red or coralcolor and are safe to eat and even considered a delicacy
by some.
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