“Marylanders” celebrate summer big! We wait all year for our little blue friends to come back into season and late June and early July kicks off the best 5 months of the year… Crab Pickin’ Season! Born and raised as a “Shore Billy,” (that’s what they call us in the surrounding cities) we’re lucky enough to be surrounded by water on all three sides of us. The Atlantic ocean and Chesapeake Bay cut into the land and give us the peninsula we live on and the closest big city is a 3 hour radius all the way around. So, from my house, in 5 minutes I can be on the beach one way and go 5 miles inland I am surrounded by farmland and corn fields. So I guess you can say I have the best of both worlds!

Over the winter, we “Marylanders” tend to go a little haywire without our fish, clams, oysters, and of course our crabs. Once summer comes we go in to full swing of corn boiling, beer drinking, and crab pickin’. We’ll pay any amount of money to get them or you can even find most of us on a weekend afternoon, dropping hand lines of chicken necks into the shallow waters, hoping to scoop one big enough up into the net and throw into the pot. Even if’s it’s just for a little taste!

So, now that summer is finally here and the corn is quickly growing and local breweries are buzzing, you can celebrate like a Marylander this summer. Shuckin’ corn, pickin’ “jimmies,” and sipping on your favorite brew. You can even slice up some warm garden fresh tomatoes, add a pinch of salt and pepper, and you’ve got the perfect summer dinner!

Crab steaming recipe:

1. Get a dozen of heavy, meat filled crabs. Add to a large crab pot, 2 cups of water and a can of your favorite beer. Put in the separator, then add crabs, cover and bring to a steam.
2. Once the crabs have turned a dark red color they’re good to go. Cover their shells in “Old Bay.”
3. Set the table with old newspapers, crab mallets, melted butter or apple cider vinegar, tomatoes, fresh steamed corn, and a beer. Dump the crabs in the middle of the table and enjoy the summer evening with your company and pretend you’re from Maryland if you aren’t!   Happy Summer!