"A Crab Cake for All Seasons"
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL – September 29, 2006 – Crabs are traditionally a summertime food, when varieties like the Maryland blue are at their peak. But many diners are eating them year-round in another form: the crab cake. These patties, made from little more than crab meat, filler (mostly break crumbs or crackers) and a few spices, have long been a regional favorite in Maryland. Specialty mail-order retailers say that business is up across the country. Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes & More, a Baltimore company, says it sold five million crab cakes last year, including on the QVC shopping network. Sales have recently been growing 40% annually. Smaller vendors are also finding success: The Crab Place, based in Crisfield, Md., says it has shipped its crab cakes to all 50 states. Annual sales of the product have risen 33%, to about $300,000, in the past year.