All About Lobsters

close up st andrews bay lobster
All about our Lobsters
St Andrews Bay Lobsters are European Lobsters (Homarus gammarus) they are NOT Homarus americanus! Which are American lobsters that often come into the UK frozen from Maine or Canada and can be found for sale very cheaply.

Why does it matter?

A Scottish Lobster eaten in Scotland should be fresher, have less food miles and carbon footprint that it's cousin from the Americas. It should also have a better texture and flavor.

I'm using words like "should" because it's perfectly possible to catch a good Scottish lobster and make a right mess of it by poor post-catch treatment or poor cooking.

There's also the issue of simple honesty-if they advertise a local caught Scottish Lobster than that's what you should get!

I have a bit of a hobby in busting restaurants which sell "Scottish" or round here "Local Caught" or "St Andrews Bay"  lobsters which are anything but. It's great fun. 

So how do I tell the difference?

Size: Cheap Maine and Canadian lobsters for sale in the UK are often very small 400 to 500g; these have a poor meat to shell ratio and their processors don't like them so they tend to off load them here. East Coast lobsters from around here are medium sized usually 500g to 700g each. West Coast lobsters are larger often 800g to 1000g or more.

Colour: Live Scottish lobsters are blue those from the USA and Canada tend to be brown or reddish

The one at the back is from Maine you can see a very clear colour difference.
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