Comments on: Male, Female & Female “Virgin” Crabs : Part II — Taste & Texture

By: dred

dred — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:51:46 +0000

Hi MM,

You can also determine the gender of the crabs through its “aligue”. Noticed the creamy texture of the aligue of a gay crab? The meat is also sweeter compared to regular female (maybe because they are younger) . I like to eat this kind over mature female but on top of my list is really male crabs.

Gay crabs also grows to be either female or male over time (you can tell from their apron).

By: Mylene

Mylene — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:45:40 +0000

Thank you very much for giving me more info on the crab/alimango. It’s my favorite seafood. My grandmother introduced me to the alimasag/alimango when I was around 5 supposedly as a cure for bed-wetting – she says if I eat a lot of it, I won’t pee in bed. As an obedient child, I ate lots of it and for some strange reason, did not pee in bed…oh well. She also taught me how to distinguish the genders (by looking at the flaps just like you wrote) and to eat the bakla (or the female virgin after reading your article), if I wanted the “malaman na matamis” or the adult female, if I wanted aligue. The male was always last on the list.

By: chilli

chilli — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:47:05 +0000

Has anybody seen the 10% of mangrooves left left…? in the whole philippine islands? WE
should be soooo very sad, and DO something about the environment ‘coz there will be no more of these succulent mud crabs to be found. Google-Map…..we used to be famous for mud crabs in my local birthplace-Panguil Bay,Misamis Occidental. The mangrooves are nearly gone, the locals cut most of the trees for firewood and erected payag-payags on the mangroove area near the mouth of the river….and all other human waste to go with it.

30 years ago- no one listened about conservation or doing anything about the environment.
now_is it really too late? what about our next generation as in our grand children’s children?

By: Footloose

Footloose — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:14:31 +0000

Ain’t necessarily so. When the crab is fat and chockfull of coral, the cooked solidified coral actually dislodges completely in one piece and leaves the carapace clean as in the pictures. Or they just held the greenish meconium-like matter that is totally revolting and were therefore washed off.

By: Gerry

Gerry — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:26:09 +0000

Just realized that the quality of the female crabs in the pictures above were terrible. Vendors usually open the back with a small knife to see if the crab has the orange roe. For males, I was told to press the bottom sides of the shell as the above comment of Manny explained. The undersides of the carapaces in the pictures above seem too clean and devoid of any fat, which is not a good indication of the quality of the crabs.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:03:23 +0000

Gerry, thanks for the link. The picture of infinitesimal crab spawns reminds me of the bangus binhi my mom use to buy for her fishpond. Barely visible to the naked eye as they swam around, they were actually sold by the piece. They were scooped with a coconut half shell and actually counted individually. Imagine how long it took to count out ten thousand (isang laksa) of these tiny fries.

By: psychomom

psychomom — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:43:29 +0000

was chuckling over your descriptions of the various crabs. i do agree with you that we need to consume only sustainable products in order to prevent extinction. thank you for getting the message out there even if only to the numerous readers of the blog.

By: Risa

Risa — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:37:25 +0000

“Massive all mangrove island” reminds me of that carnivorous island flora in the Life of Pi.

I was lucky to visit the floating SEAFDEC facility near Guimaras and saw a pair of close to 100kilo grouper and 12-17kilo bangus. I was also lucky to taste HUGE diwal or angel wing shell around the length of my hand. There was a time they were harvested to almost extinction.

You do recall that vicious rumor/scandal that the meatiest, juciest crabs are raised in the poso n____. Eww.

May I commend your cook for giving these crabs a good scrub, they are positively worthy of their close ups!

By: james1

james1 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:38:03 +0000

How kind of you, MM, to educate us of your food experiences and in the process touch our conscience on how food and its sources should be treated.

By: ms philippines blogger

ms philippines blogger — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:40:18 +0000

I’m not into the gender of the crab kasi kain lang ako ng kain! Haha..sarap nyan sa kasama ang sinabawang gata na may alimango. The best sa tanghalian at hapunan.