Shellfish Artifact: Shrimp

• Shellfish:Shrimp

Shellfish can divided into two groups:

• Mollusks: Soft bodies that are  partially covered by hard shells

Ex. oysters, clams, and scallops

• Crustaceans: Covered by firm shells and have segmented bodies

Ex: Shrimp, lobster, and crabs

Shrimp,crabs, lobster and crayfish are decapods (They have 10 Feet)

Hundreds of spp. Are found in brackish and marine waters

Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United States

*prawn is another word for shrimp.

Steps to Purchasing Shrimp:

Step 1 Pick your size: (The smaller the shrimp the more Shrimp Per Pound). Shrimp come in sizes of small, medium, large, jumbo, and colossal.

Step 2 Check for Freshness: First, do not purchase shrimp that smell like ammonia that is the first sign of spoilage. Next, avoid shrimp that are limp, slimy, or falling apart. Finally, an advanced way to tell if your shrimp is fresh is to look for small black dots on their heads. Those black spots are oxidization and are similar to what causes apples to turn brown.

Step 3 Fresh or Frozen: * Most shrimp is frozen at sea. Fresh shrimp that you find at most supermarkets is the same bag of frozen shrimp that you buy in your freezer section that have been allowed to thaw. So it is just as well to buy the frozen shrimp in the size that you need.

Step 4 Thawing Frozen Shrimp: Place in a bowl and allow cool running water to run over them until they are thawed enough to work with.

Step 5 (How you can purchase shrimp that you can purchase):

Shell on Shrimp: Have their heads and shell intact. These shrimp give you more options of preparation and tend to be less mangled than other types of shrimps you can purchase.

EZ Peel Shrimp: Shrimp that is easy to peel. These shrimp have already been spilt up the back and probably devined.

Pre-Peel Shrimp: This shrimp has the entire shell removed and they have been devined. These are also most expensive type of shrimp because they have been processed the most.

Step 6 Devein or Not-to-Devein:

The "vein" of a shrimp is actually its digestive tract, typically a thin, dark tube of, well, shrimp poop.  It's not necessarily risky to eat it, but it's also not something we'd recommend, as it could contain sand (which has an unpleasant texture) or could taste bitter, and it's easy enough to get rid of it.

*Peeling Technique

For completely peeled and deveined shrimp, gently twist to remove the head if it's still attached. Then go underneath, where the legs are attached, and dig your thumb under the shell to release. Next, remove the tail with a gentle tug.

DeveinTechnique

To devein, lay the shrimp down and run your paring knife along the back. Try not to cut too deep, and pull out the thin gray vein.

Step 7 Type of Shrimp:

• Brown shrimp mostly come from the Gulf of Mexico, though they're found down the entire Atlantic coast. They like it warm, so they're found in shallow waters, and tend to be fairly small with a purple-ish coloring on the tail. Firm in texture, their flavor isn't the strongest, though they're thought to have a distinctive mineral-y iodine shrimp flavor.
• White shrimp tend to be a little more tender and sweet. With a slightly lighter color and a green-hued tail, they're found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in shallow, muddy waters. There's also a good number of white shrimp imported from Latin America
• Pink shrimp are some of the tastiest shrimp you can find, mild and sweet without the distinctive ammonia taste some of the brown and white shrimp have. Just don't expect a vibrantly hued patch of shrimp at the market—pink shrimp can range from white to gray in color. You can recognize them by dark blue coloring on the tail; they usually also sport a spot on either side of the body, about three quarters of the way to the tail.
• Tiger shrimp are found mostly in Asia, especially in Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and China, tiger shrimp have telltale brown striping on their bodies. There are currently non-native tiger shrimp populations found off the Eastern coast of the United States as well. They can get enormous in size, up to a foot long, and are the most commonly farmed shrimp in the world
• Spotted Prawn is found along the Pacific coast from Alaska down to Mexico, and is a delicacy in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. A fairly large shrimp, at up to a foot long, spot prawns are prized for their sweetness and tenderness.
• Rock Shrimp Rock shrimp are deepwater residents, growing tough and hardy in the cold waters off the Atlantic coast from Virginia down to the Gulf. A few species also live off the Pacific coast. They don't look at all like their warm water cousins, boasting a very hard (dare I say rock-like) shell and segmented flesh that looks more like a lobster tail than anything else. It tastes, not surprisingly, kind of like lobster, more firm than other varieties of shrimp, but also more sweet. It's excellent in preparations that typically call for lobster, and a whole lot cheaper to boot. It's pretty much impossible to remove that tough shell without a dedicated machine, so it's usually sold pre-peeled.

Step 8 Labeling

• All seafood that is sold in the US is supposed to be labeled with the country where it is from, and weather it is farm raised or wild.
• However if the shrimp is processed it does not have to be labeled with country of origin and farm vs wild labeling. Most shrimp falls under this category.

Lab:

Shrimp Ceviche