Eating invasives: Sustainability and indulgence unite at Swyft for Green Crab Week

Eating invasives: Sustainability and indulgence unite at Swyft for Green Crab Week

Green crab arancini, with crab provided by Wulf’s Fish and napa cabbage from Rock Cobble Farm.

Allison Mitchell

KENT — Kent’s New American tavern Swyft had an unusual addition to its menu of locally-sourced, elevated fare last week – the European green crab, an invasive crustacean that has wreaked havoc on New England’s fisheries and coastal ecosystems, but which also happens to be very tasty.

“People just don’t know that they’re delicious,” Executive Chef Ryan Carbone said during a moment of respite between the Friday, June 27, lunch and dinner rushes. “They can be eaten and we can do our part to control the population to a degree.”

What brought this unlikely ingredient into Swyft’s kitchen was an initiative called Green Crab Week, which took place from June 20-29. The yearly event is an exposition in which gastronome-meets-sustainability nonprofit GreenCrab.Org partners with restaurants, fishmongers, fisherman and other seafood-oriented organizations to demonstrate the culinary versatility of this small but ecologically devastating crab.

Native to the eastern North Atlantic, the green crab was introduced to New England waters in the early 19th century, likely brought over in the ballasts of European merchant ships. Since then, it has established itself along the coast from South Carolina to Newfoundland, severely impacting eelgrass habitat and shellfish populations throughout its new range. It has also found a footing on North America’s west coast, Australia and South Africa, and is expected to push even further afield as climate change alters ocean temperatures and ecosystems.

Swyft was one of three Connecticut restaurants — and the only in the interior — to participate in Green Crab Week out of more than 75 businesses along the East Coast. Other partnering establishments were BLDG, in New Haven, and The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic. Oakville, Connecticut’s seafood purveyor To The Gills also joined in.

Carbone said David Standridge, founder and executive chef at the sustainable seafood-focused Shipwright’s Daughter, embraced the green crab at his restaurant early on. Carbone cited Standridge, alongside a Boston-based fish wholesaler he uses called Wulf’s Fish that regularly stocks the crab, as his inspiration for taking part in this year’s Green Crab Week.

“I just wanted to do our part in the Northwest Corner,” he said.

While it’s Swyft’s first foray into Green Crab Week, Carbone affirmed that sustainability and environmental consciousness fit firmly into the restaurant’s ethos, which it shares with its hyperlocal tasting-menu restaurant next door, Ore Hill. Protecting the land that provides the food, and the livelihoods of those who harvest it, is central to a responsible and respectful chef’s mission, he said.

And when it comes to seafood, it’s personal: “It’s my favorite thing to cook. It’s my favorite thing to eat. And all the things we love to eat in New England — the lobsters, the clams, what have you —are affected by this green crab population.”

Carbone said he hopes a sustaining green crab fishery develops in the region, not only to keep their numbers in check but also because they’re simply a great addition to the kitchen.

For Swyft’s crab week menu, Carbone opted to make a stock to act as a risotto base – a method which uses the entire animal and doesn’t require the wasteful and time-consuming process of picking meat from the small crustaceans.

Carbone’s stock crushed the meat and shells together in a boil flavored with aromatics like onion and garlic alongside “a couple kinds of seaweed to reinforce that ocean flavor.”

The result was a “really, really aromatic, flavorful stock” that was used to cook the risotto that would be deep fried into arancini for an appetizer or shared plate. The fried risotto balls were served on a bed of seaweed aioli and vinegar-chili dressed napa cabbage sourced from the Ore Hill & Swyft-owned Rock Cobble Farm just several miles down the road in South Kent.

The experience wasn’t only gastronomic — servers chatted with guests about the species and GreenCrab.Org’s work. At the meal’s end, informational cards prepared by the nonprofit were dropped with the bill so that diners returned home with more than just a sated palate.

While Green Crab Week is over, Carbone said his time with the invasive has just begun: “It’s a versatile ingredient, and I’m really excited to dig in after this week and start to use it and incorporate it into more of my food.”

Latest News

Father Joseph Kurnath

LAKEVILLE — Father Joseph G. M. Kurnath, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford, passed away peacefully, at the age of 71, on Sunday, June 29, 2025.

Father Joe was born on May 21, 1954, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He attended kindergarten through high school in Bristol.

Keep ReadingShow less
Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less