Crab sticks are a type of semi-processed seafood product that is made by boiling or steaming the meat of leg-bearing crabs, extracting the excess water, adding flour, spices, sugar, and salt before being molded into the stick form. They are then deep-fried in oil, often after being breaded.

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Crab sticks are an alternative to eating crab meat, which is often expensive and may also be difficult to procure in certain countries that don’t have the proper environments for its growth.

Crab sticks are low in cholesterol, with each stick containing only 12mg of cholesterol, along with 100 calories (you can find nutritional information on this page ) They’re also rich in calcium, iron, and protein.

What are they made out of?

As previously mentioned, crab sticks are most commonly made by extracting the moisture from chopped-up leg bearing crabs, adding flour and spices before shaping them into a stick form.

The most common type of crabs used for manufacturing is blue swimmer crabs — if you live in US or Canada, check the packaging to make sure it says “Product of Thailand”, otherwise you are probably getting imported Chinese crab sticks.

Thailand is by far the biggest exporter of blue swimmer crabs. Blue swimmers are harvested year-round in most parts of Australia and in the Philippines, they are caught all year round too! Crab sticks made from other types of crustaceans may also be marketed as crab sticks, but more commonly than not this isn’t the case.

What about imitation crab sticks?

Imitation crab sticks are just that — an imitation. Imitation crab meat is typically made with finely chopped fish flesh bound together with polyphosphate esters (like soap). It mimics real crab meat somewhat closely both in taste and texture, but it’s not actually crab meat. It can sometimes contain shell bits as well as other impurities from the processing plant.