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Live Maine Lobsters are good for You, Too!
The tradition of harvesting live Maine lobsters goes back many generations to when family groups began trapping them in the coastal waters. It wasn't that the people liked to eat them. They used them for fertilizer in their farm fields and only fed them to slaves, indentured servants, children, and poor people. It wasn't too many years, however, before tastes changed and people began to value lobsters as rare delicacies. Now the rich were eating them in the finest restaurants of America's big cities. The demand for lobsters became so high, that in the 1840s the first commercial lobster fishery in Maine was started to cash in on the newly-lucrative trade.
The most obvious reason for eating lobster is that it just plain tastes good. It might surprise you, though, to hear that it's also extremely good for you. Would you believe that ounce for ounce lobsters have fewer calories, less fat, and about the same amount of cholesterol and skinless chicken breasts?
By examining the nutrition fact sheet on a can of lobster meat, we find that a 3 oz. serving contains only 98 calories with only five calories being attributed to fat. The serving also contains 300 mg. of the important mineral, potassium. The daily percentages of the vitamins and minerals which are supplied by this 3 oz. piece as listed on the can are as follows:
1. Vitamin A - 2% 2. Calcium - 6% 3. Riboflavin - 4% 4. Iron - 2% 5. Vitamin E - 6% 6. Niacin - 4% 7. Vitamin B6 - 4% 8. Vitamin B12 - 45% 9. Magnesium - 8% 10. Selenium - 50% 11. Manganese - 2% 12. Phosphorus - 15% 13. Zinc - 15% 14. Copper - 80%
I challenge you to find another can in your cupboard with a nutrition fact sheet as impressive as this one on a can of lobster. You'll definitely be surprised by what you discover.
Independent fishing crews of one to three men are responsible for most of the live Maine lobsters harvested each year. By taking short day trips that only range about 12 miles from shore, a single operation can manage as many as 800 traps at a time. Each day they follow a routine of hauling in filled traps and replacing them with new ones. Buoys marked with each captain's own state-registered design mark the locations of his traps.
Lobsters are harvested in Maine twelve months a year. The majority are caught between late June and late December when the lobsters are most active. Although lobsters are harvested during the other months of the year, too, the catch is much lower.
New shell lobsters are considered the cream of the live Maine lobster crop. When adult lobsters shed their tough old shells for new, larger ones about once a year, that's when their meat comes at the highest premium. Lobster connoisseurs will pay huge amounts for these new shell lobsters, because the meat tastes best at this time of year, and they can actually crack the shells using their bare hands.
Any chance you have to indulge in the succulence of a live Maine lobster, you should grab it. Not only will the taste wow you, but you'll be eating something that is extremely healthy for you. What a winning combination!
About the Author Hopefully you enjoyed this informative article about seafood. You can always just go to Quality Fresh Seafood where some high quality articles are being highlighted. Right now the content is about cook lobster which should go along nicely with this article.
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