Generations of New Jersey beachgoers have had fun digging at the ocean’s edge and finding the small crustaceans known as sand crabs, mole crabs or even sand fleas.
They’re cute for kids to collect and keep in a bucket as a pet for an hour or so before letting them go. Smart fishermen know they make great bait for striped bass in New Jersey or, in states to our south, pompano.
But as someone who has already experimented by chowing down on wild New Jersey species like Canada Goose and periodical cicadas, I found myself sitting on the beach in recent years watching my kids collect them and wondering incessantly: can you eat sand crabs? Might there be an untapped free range organic protein source burrowing right beneath my toes?
A plate of garlic cicadas with pasta as prepared by Brian Donohue in a previous episode. Watch the cicada Watch the video here.
In more than four decades spent in and around New Jersey beaches I’d never heard of anyone eating them. But a search of the internet revealed they are eaten in places like Phuket, Thailand, where they are called “beach cicadas.”
“Phuket,” I thought, sitting on the beach over Memorial Day weekend. “Let’s do this.”
In today’s video, NJ.com food dude/Munchmobile captain Pete Genovese and I give it a try, totally winging it by hunting and preparing a bowlful of the little critters.
We checked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to make sure there were no restrictions on harvesting them. We cooked them live, like you would blue claw crabs or lobster — not a choice really, but because they just seemed to not die in the cooler.
And when we finally bit into our first fried mole crab, the results were surprising.
Check out the video, and let us know in the comment section below: Have you ever eaten sand crabs? Do you have any suggestions for how to prepare them?
Are there other things you hunt or gather in New Jersey’s waters or forests that you take home to eat that most people ignore? What’s the most exotic food you’ve ever eaten? Abroad? Or at home here in New jersey?
Brian Donohue may be reached at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @briandonohue. Find NJ.com on Facebook.