Canadian lobster

Lobster products

Royal Greenland offer three different lobster products; Raw Whole lobster (frozen), Cooked Whole lobster (frozen) and Live lobster. The Raw Whole Lobster is easy to store and can be cooked in many ways, after the lobster has been thawed and cooked. The Cooked lobster is ready to serve, the lobster just needs to be thawed and then served either cold or hot.

Live Lobster from the cool waters around Newfoundland is a full lobster experience. Keep the lobster fresh in a saltwater aquarium, and explore the wealth of cooking possibilities with the live lobster.

Lobster claws

Lobster claws

The Canadian lobster has the characteristic large spectacular claws opposite the eastern Pacific lobsters. It has two different type of claws, the crusher claw and the pincer claw, where the crusher claw are slightly larger than the pincer claw. If you examine a lobster, you will find that some have their crusher claw on the right side while others have it on the left. Indicating that some lobsters are “right-clawed” and some are “left-clawed”.

Lobster in the sea

Canadian lobster (Homarus americanus) is found in coastal areas, from Labrador in Canada to New Jersey in the USA. The lobster lives on rocks at depths of 2-40 meters, where its either olive-green or greenish-brown color blends with the surroundings. The lobster develops its characteristic fascinating red color after cooking.

Lobster habitat

The lobster keeps growing throughout its life, but its hard shell does not. So once a year, or every second year, it wriggles out of the old shell and forms a new shell, which it puffs up with water into a larger size, into which it will eventually grow.

The lobster’s shell is soft until it grows into the larger shell, which becomes a hard shell and in the meantime also the meat is more watery and soft. Royal Greenland only processes hard-shell lobsters.

Fishery

The Royal Greenland Canadian lobsters are fished in the deeper, colder waters along Newfoundland’s south and west coasts, which is the habitat of the larger lobsters.

During the harvesting season from April to July, local fishermen in day boats catch the lobsters in lobster traps. The traps are carried out to sea and lowered to the seabed by ropes attached to floating buoys, which mark the position of the traps for later retrieval.

Cathing lobsters

Cathing lobsters

The Newfoundland fishermen use a gentle harvesting method with baited lobster traps, which allow undersized lobsters to be released through a small exit hole. Moreover, the biodegradable section of the trap will deteriorate over time, giving lobsters caught in lost traps a means of escape.

Read more about our fishing methods

Processing

The lobsters are landed at Port Auxchoix and Port Saunders on the west coast of Newfoundland, or at Harbour Breton, Fortune Bay or Grand Bank on the southern coast. Processing of the live Canadian lobsters takes place at Royal Greenland’s production facilities in Newfoundland – in Conche and Southern Harbour.

At the production facilities, the live lobsters are carefully processed by hand. The lobsters are graded by size after arrival and stunned with fresh cold water, before each individual lobster is placed carefully in a red “mesh-sock”, quickly frozen and glazed with water to keep the lobster fresh while frozen. For transportation, the lobsters are packed in a master carton ready to be shipped to customers all over the world.

Processing

Each individual lobster is placed carefully in a red “mesh-sock”.

Our Cooked Whole lobster is cooked to perfection and then quickly brine frozen to preserve the perfect meat quality.

Live Lobster is handled with special care, from the fisherman to delivery to the customer. We seek to handle the lobsters gently throughout the journey. After the live lobsters enter the processing facility, they are also size-graded by hand. The master cartons with live lobsters are stored at low temperature to optimize the well-being of the lobster, ready for the journey to customers all over the world.

Route to market

 The Canadian lobsters are very popular around the world. We ship or fly the exclusive shellfish to Europe, Asia or USA.

In the USA the Canadian lobster is very popular as part of a surf & turf dish – a serving with meat or as part of a shellfish platter. In Europe and other parts of the world lobster is a true luxury serving either for New Year or for other special occasions.

Lobster in the kitchen

Canadian lobster is a real luxury in terms of both taste and appearance, thanks to its beautiful red-colored shell and the delicate white meat, with its mild and slightly sweet taste that is so enjoyable. The hard-shell lobster meat is firmer than the soft-shell meat and is considered the tastiest, and has also proved to be the most nutritious.

Whole lobster

The hard-shell lobster is fully packed with firm meat with a dense texture and a well-developed taste, due to its upbringing in the colder waters making the lobster grow more slowly.

The meat in the lobster’s claws and tail is a true delicacy. The fresh white mild lobster meat is delicious when complemented with lime, lemon or garlic, and herbs such as thyme and parsley. Canadian lobster can be served hot or cold. Canadian lobster always adds a unique and exclusive look and taste to a serving or a buffet.

Recipe!

Recipe!

See all of our recipes with lobster here