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The Shrimp Boats Are In!
A look behind the scenes into what it takes to bring the tasty, Atlantic White Shrimp to your table.
The days start early and run late for the many local fisherman of the shrimping fleet in Brunswick Georgia. It is a demanding life.

A typical boat might stay out several days while keeping its catch on ice. And with the fall in wholesale shrimp prices and the rise in fuel cost, it isn't an easy business to run. Without the efforts of the fishing fleet, we'd all be relegated to eating imported or farm raised shrimp.

Frank Owens Jr., owner of Brunswick's City Market Seafood gets deliveries straight from his dock on a daily basis.

City Market supplies a number of local seafood restaurants with fresh shrimp as well as operating a retail front to the public. In 1948, after the death of Ernest William Stanford Sr., his son, Ernest William "Capt. Red" Stanford Jr., continued the family seafood business at the City Market.

At that time Brunswick was know as the shrimp capital of the world. Millions of pounds of shrimp were caught off the coastal waters of Georgia.
In 1987, "Capt. Red" purchased the City Market Packing House located on the nearby East River. Fresh shrimp were unloaded right from the local shrimp boats where they were packed and processed.

After the death of "Capt. Red" in 2003, the business was left to his oldest grandson, Frank Owens Jr. to manage the market with his son-in-law Bruce Collins to manage the Packing House. City Market ships to anywhere in the continenetal United States.

Chipped ice is the key ingredient to freshness. Every step of the packing and handling process involves ice. As the shrimp are off-loaded from the boats they are weighed and loaded into iced boxes immediately.

The shrimp used in our Shrimp & Grits recipe came from City Market and were cooked within 24 hours of being caught. City Market ships to anywhere in the continental United States.

Find out more at: www.citymarketseafood.com
What's up with these shrimp?
The Atlantic White Shrimp or "Litopenaeus setiferus" in case you want to speak Latin, is a species of shrimp that is prolific throughout the Southern Atlantic Region. The Atlantic White Shrimp can be found as far north as New York and in the Gulf of Mexico as well. They average between 7 - 8 inches in length, have 10 walking legs and 10 swimming legs. Most of the white shrimp eaten are one year old or less and rarely do they ever live past two years.

The southern Georgia and north Florida variety are said to have a slightly sweet flavor. Many locals believe the sweetness comes from the marshland cordgrass often thought to "leak" sugar into the waters during the night.

This is one of a few wild-caught species that is still abundant and in no danger of being overfished.
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