The best soft shell crabs in the world.

 The watermen of the Chesapeake Bay first introduced the soft shell crab to the seafood industry in the 1870's, just a few miles from our home in Virginia. Today, the soft shell crab represents a major Virginia fishery with the majority of its supply coming from the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Delights brand started in the late 1980's. Since then, our company has processed hundreds of millions of dozens of soft shell crabs through our facilities that have been consumed in restaurants all over the country, thanks to the trusted Chesapeake Bay Delights brand. Our soft shell crabs are synonymous with fresh, quality crabs that deliver time after time, order after order. That's the reason we have loyal customers that have trusted Chesapeake Bay Delights for years, and how our many long-term customer relationships began to form, which was truly the key to the successful start up of Shore Seafood. 

Contrary to the common belief, soft shell crabs are not a separate species of crab, but are blue crabs, Callinectus Sapidus, that have shed, or molted, their hard outer shells in preparation for growth. In order for a crab to grow, this hard exoskeleton must shed, and when it does, a soft, pliable crab emerges, expands its soft, new shell and then conforms to its new body. At this point, it is known as a "soft shell crab" or more simply, a "soft crab". A soft shell crab will be soft for about 2-3 hours before their shell begins to harden again, therefore, it is crucial  the crab be removed from the water immediately once it's shed its shell. In 2007, the company installed their first crab floats which are holding tanks powered by pumps that moves water from the bay through the tanks to provide the blue crabs a genuine environment to accelerate the shedding process. Because of this, shedding soft shell crabs is a very labor-intensive operation and staff must be present 24/7 during season.