Title: Cooking & Eating a Lobster - Lobster Institute - University of Maine
Headings: Lobster Institute
Lobster Institute
Cooking and Eating Lobsters
Are lobsters nutritious?
How do you cook live lobster?
Boiling
Steaming
Grilling
What’s the difference between a hard shell and soft shell lobster?
Why do lobsters twitch as they cook?
How can you minimize the movement of a lobster when its placed in a cooking pot?
Why do lobsters turn red when you cook them?
What is the white “goop” you find in the lobsters and the water after you cook them?
What is the green stuff you find in the cooked lobsters? Can you eat it?
What is the red stuff you find inside along the tail of cooked lobster? Can you eat it?
Can you get live lobster all year?

Content: What’s the difference between a hard shell and soft shell lobster? Lobster will periodically shed their shells as they grow. This can happen as many as 25 times before they are 6-7 years old; then males shed every year and mature females every two years. When lobsters become very large molting is less frequent. After they shed they have a paper thin shell, which can take up to two months to harden, and are called soft-shell, new-shell or shedders. The debate goes on as to which is most tasty, though the soft-shell are definitely easier to crack! Either is welcome on our dinner table! Why do lobsters twitch as they cook? Researchers found that a few seconds after a lobster is dropped in boiling water it will begin to twitch its tail.