Cooking Recipe King & Dungeness Crab Meat
Recipe Ingredients
Directions
It is recommended that blue crab meat be frozen for
best quality.
Procedure: Keep live crabs on ice until ready to can.
Wash crabs thoroughly, using several changes of cold
water. Simmer crabs 20 minutes in water containing 1/4
cup of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of salt (or up to
1 cup of salt, if desired) per gallon. Cool in cold
water, drain, remove back shell, then remove meat from
body and claws. Soak meat 2 minutes in cold water
containing 2 cups of lemon juice or 4 cups of white
vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of salt (or up to 1 cup of
salt, if desired) per gallon. Drain and squeeze meat
to remove excess moisture. Fill half-pint jars with 6
ounces of meat and pint jars with 12 ounces, leaving
1-inch headspace. Add 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid or 2
tablespoons of lemon juice to each half-pint jar, or 1
teaspoon of citric acid or 4 tablespoons of lemon
juice per pint jar. Add hot water, leaving 1-inch
headspace.
Adjust lids and process following the recommendations
in Table 1 or Table 2 according to the canning method
used. Table 1. Recommended process time for King and
Dungeness Crab Meat in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
Jar Size: Half-pints, Pints.
Process Time: 70 minutes for Half-pints, 80 minutes
for Pints. Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of 0 -
2,000 ft: 11 lb.
lb.
4,001 - 6,000 ft: 13
lb.
6,001 - 8,000 ft: 14
lb.
Table 2. Recommended process time for King and
Dungeness Crab Meat in a weighted-gauge pressure
canner.
Jar Size: Half-pints, Pints.
Process Time: 70 minutes for Half-pints, 80 minutes
for Pints. Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of 0 -
1,000 ft: 10 lb.
Above 1,000 ft: 15
lb.
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=== * USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539
(rev. 1994) * Meal-Master format courtesy of Karen
Mintzias