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The Seafood King |
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Seafood lovers cannot say that they truly have visited Maine until they experience the taste of a Maine Lobster. Maine lobster, sometimes referred to as the King of Seafood, has a distinctive flavor that's both mild and slightly sweet. Maine lobster is so impressive; it can turn any event into a celebration. Harvested from the icy, salt water of the North Atlantic Ocean, Maine lobster is a natural delicacy for any occasion.
Maine coastal waters are some of the most pure and pristine in the world. The combination of rocky coast and strong wave action help keep this purification process in check.
This is one reason why lobsters from Maine are the sweetest and best tasting anywhere!
Interesting Lobster Facts
Did you know.... In colonial times, lobsters were considered "poverty food." They were harvested from tidal pools and served to children, to prisoners, and to indentured servants, who exchanged their passage to America for seven years of service to their sponsors. In Massachusetts, some of the servants finally rebelled. They had it put into their contracts that they would not be forced to eat lobster more than three times a week. Lobsters can go weeks to months without a meal (and its hard to eat with rubber bands around your claws!) instead living off of and melting away their body fat and protein (the stuff you want). This leads to a loss of flavor in lobsters that are not fresh out of the ocean. An adult female lobster will produce approximately 10,000 eggs when she is fertile. Each egg is the size of the head of a pin. As they grow, the eggs are held under the mothers tail with a special glue-like substance. The female will carry her eggs for almost a year. Then the eggs are released as larvae. It has been estimated that less than 1% of the eggs will survive to grow into an adult.
Are lobsters good for me? You Bet! Lobsters aren't just good - They're good for you. Maine Lobster has less cholesterol, calories, and saturated fats than both chicken and turkey! Lobster packs a lot of protein - 18.8 grams per 3 1/2-ounce serving - and not much fat - less than 1 gram. A serving has 90 calories, 95 mg. of cholesterol, 253 mg. of sodium and .2 grams of omega-3 fatty acid. Besides the greenish-brown colored lobsters, there are also rare blue, yellow, red and white ones. Except for the white ones, they all turn red when cooked.
Until the early 1800s, lobstering was done by gathering them by hand along the shoreline. Lobstering as a trap fishery came into existence in Maine around 1850. Today Maine is the largest lobster-producing state in the nation. Though the number of lobstermen has increased dramatically, the amount of lobsters caught has remained relatively steady.
Lobsters grow by molting. This is the process in which they struggle out of their old shells while simultaneously absorbing water which expands their body size. This molting, or shell-shedding, occurs about 25 times in the first 5-7 years of life. Following this cycle, the lobster will weigh approximately one pound and reach minimum legal size. A lobster at minimum legal size may then only molt once per year and increase about 15% in length and 40% in weight. No one has yet found a way to determine the exact age of a lobster. However, based on scientific knowledge of body size at age, the maximum age attained may approach 100 years. They can grow to be 3 feet or more in overall body length.
Maine Lobster Delivered
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Lobster traps wait for morning on a south Maine shore.
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