Lobsters, Why the hell are mine shrinking when i cook them?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Paterson on March 23, 2008 at 4:28pm

If you get a chance, you should read two awesome books about lobster.
The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corman?
and
The Lobster Coast by Colin Woodward.

The hard shell, soft shell issue is caused by the molting process. When a lobster molts, it absorbs seawater until it's shell literally bursts open, then it crawls out and forms a new shell, thus growing a size. The soft shell you speak of results from the lobster being caught too near the molting process.

The meat infill ratio you referred to is also a part of this molting process. Think of buying your kid a pair of shoes that's a size too big, because he's going to grow into them. Same with lobsters. They hold the extra seawater until the new shell hardens, then release it. The lobster now has room to grow in its new shell.

You won't find molts in the winter as this process is triggered by warm water.

The other problem with soft shells is they are weak from the molting process and don't handle shipping very well, which is why the vast majority of soft shell lobsters go into processing for tails and meat.

You might find it interesting that the industry standard is 4-6% of live lobsters die before the customer can use them. It's dangerous to eat a lobster that has died before butchering or cooking whole. A toxin begins to form as soon as the lobster dies, and if enough of this toxin is present, it can make you very ill, regardless of how much you cook it.