{"id":502,"date":"2020-10-12T10:51:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T10:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ultimatesurvivalspace.com\/?p=502"},"modified":"2022-03-25T10:18:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T10:18:38","slug":"crawfish-lobster-clam-can-you-eat-it-if-it-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craftofmanhood.com\/crawfish-lobster-clam-can-you-eat-it-if-it-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Crawfish, Lobster, Clam: Can You Eat It If It Died?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Foraging for food in the natural environment is part of homesteading, prepping, and survival, but caution needs to be exercised in some instances when harvesting directly from nature! Harvesting from the sea or from rivers can provide a great source of food, but what happens if some of your catch dies before you get home? Can you still safely eat crawfish, lobster, or clams if they have died?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can eat a dead crawfish or lobster if it has not been dead for long and if you harvested it yourself. Harvesting it yourself, you would know that it was alive when you caught it, and it can be eaten in a short time after. If refrigerated, a dead crawfish or lobster can last a day or so. Dead clams, on the other hand, should never be eaten if they were harvested dead or died in transit to your cooking area!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of us have heard the unpleasant horror stories of someone who has eaten shellfish or seafood that wasn’t fresh. The outcome can be rather unpleasant and even dangerous, particularly in the wilderness. Let’s take a look at what to look out for in these circumstances and what you should avoid when it comes to this type of foraged food!<\/p>\n\n\n\n First of all, we need to define what a crawfish is. You may hear of crayfish and crawfish and wonder what the difference is. Essentially, crawfish and crayfish are one and the same creature<\/strong>. The difference in the name is regional<\/strong>, with crawfish being a variation of the name mostly used in the southern states of the USA. In the central and southwest regions of the USA, it is also known as a crawdad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crayfish is used pretty much everywhere else, but refers to the same creature as the name crawfish!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A crawfish is basically a small lobster<\/strong>, but the difference is not only in size. Crawfish live in freshwater environments<\/strong> and can be found in clean rivers and lakes in America, Europe, and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crawfish can be found in the muddy bottoms of these bodies of water where they live under rocks or in crevices, and often burrow tunnels into the mud to raise their young in the breeding season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crawfish can be caught by hand if you are quick! You can wade in a shallow rocky stream-bed and turn over rocks with one hand while, with the other hand, you grab any crawfish hiding underneath. You can also use a small hand net to catch them in a similar way. The hand net you can fashion using your bushcraft skills with a bushcraft knife, a couple of sticks, and a piece of cloth such as a t-shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These methods are slow and take some practice, which is why the most common way of catching them is in a baited trap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Normally when crawfish are harvested, they are kept alive until they are cooked, and there is good reason for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you caught the crawfish yourself and they were all alive<\/strong>, and you eat them within an hour or so of catching them, then you will probably be ok with eating the ones that have died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key to eating crawfish is to cook them as soon as you can after you have caught them<\/strong>. Once a crawfish dies, it starts to decay rapidly, where bacteria set in, and the crawfish may have died because it was ill in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who eat crawfish on a regular basis say that the possibility of getting sick from eating dead crawfish is not the only reason for not eating them. Eating a crawfish that was dead before you boiled it will taste tough and gritty, and not have much flavor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The traditional way to tell if a crawfish was alive or dead when it was cooked is to inspect the tail. If the tail is curled up tight, then the crawfish was alive when it was cooked. If the tail is straight, then the crawfish was dead when it was put in the boiling water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are in circumstances where you need to use your survival skills, it is not advisable to eat anything that could potentially make your sick, particularly if you are injured or have a limited clean water supply. If you are simply harvesting crawfish on your homestead, the risk of getting sick from eating a dead crawfish is probably minimal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have not caught the crawfish yourself, but have bought them, then it is advisable to discard the dead ones because you don’t know how long they have been dead for.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lobsters are the larger saltwater dwelling relatives of the crawfish. <\/strong>They are also bottom dwellers and are usually found under rocks or in crevices on the ocean floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lobsters prefer fairly shallow water, in some instances as shallow as 13-feet (4m), as long as they have a rocky bottom, which provides them with shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This makes them well within reach of a person without scuba gear<\/strong>. A mask and snorkel will make it easier to forage for these animals, but with some perseverance and practice, you could catch them without this gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\nForaging For Crawfish<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How To Catch Crawfish<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Can You Eat A Dead Crawfish?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Foraging For Lobster<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How To Catch Lobster<\/h3>\n\n\n\n