Traveling Shrimp Salesmen
 

Several times a year I have guys show up selling shrimp out of ice chests from the back of their truck. They usually have a girlfriend with them and she has a small dog or puppy. They say they are from Intercoastal City. The last one came by Monday afternoon. The shrimp were from the Gulf and right off his uncle's boat for $4.95/# or if I took what he had left $3.95. After weighing them he would head them and bag them for me. The shrimp looked to be about 25/30 with a few larger.

If it's the same couple that works out of the Rayne area, be careful! Their scam is to put bleach on old shrimp to whiten them up, put alum powder to make the shrimp swell up when they soak up water and if you're not careful, you won't even get what you're paying for because once they head them, you can't accurately weigh them to make sure you got what you paid for. Don't ask me how I know.:pissed::pissed:

Also remember shrimp have a 40% loss after the heads are removed. $3.95 shrimp will cost you at least $9.88 a pound edible. Plus they do not use a certified scale. Plus it is funny how it is always their last 50 to 100 pounds. I like it when they come around I start throwing those numbers around and tell them its not a good deal. Then I start questioning if they have their wholesale license, transport license and a certified scale. If they can't produce them I tell then let me call Joe, Joe is a game warden and.... Usually I never get to finish that sentence and they are scrambling like the rats they are.

Inshore shrimp season ain't open right now, so I don't trust anybody that claims to have fresh shrimp

x2....

My shrimper buddy been loading the boat with Sea-Bobs. Real shrimpers are shrimping, make believe shrimpers are waiting till May. They were catching some brown shrimp off the beach about 3 weeks ago.

ETA; I'd be leary of "fresh 25-30's" right now. Sea-Bobs don't get much bigger than 50 count.

Not sure if it's the same couple but I had one dude stop by the house a few years ago. I paid for 10lbs of shrimp and by the time I realized I got 5lbs of shrimp and 5lbs of ice he was gone.

Ex-wife and her family have 5 boats, ten pounds of 19-21's headed is 7,48. Lbs. . People do bleach them and make them look bigger, ,not them and still get my shrimp from them..
When it comes to seafood don't trust or eat if it if you don't trust the person selling it!!!

Man I miss my ole dog. The brat had a nose for shrimp. I found out the hard way after buying shrimp outa the back of a truck from a young couple if its the same they get around cause I am over here by the mississippi river. I bought like 10 lbs and after popping the heads I noticed my hands were slimy and when peeling I would always give Sparky a few of the smaller shrimp. he usually would stand up and beg for them but wouldn't touch those. After making a creole jambalaya with them we found out why raked the jumbalaya in the trash can and got some chicken. All I can figure is I took my eyes off of them and they gave me shrimp from a different ice chest. After that I never bought shrimp again with out offering one to Sparky. It was rare for him to turn one down but if he did I did too. I sure miss that dog.

My stepfather is a commercial shrimper. We always started catching white shrimp in the gulf around mid February, but they would be more like a 40-50. They would be a nicer size by mid March.

Never knew people "bleached shrimp" cant you smell the bleach?

You can smell it but it can be tough if they were rinsed really well. They still won't look normal. They will have a more white color than the grey color that fresh shrimp have. I wouldn't have a problem buying 3 day old shrimp if they were iced properly. But never bleached. Most boats have freezer systems now because since Rita there isn't an ice plant west of Intercostal City. IQF shrimp are good but they seem to turn faster than fresh once thawed out.

I can't stand when these kind of people come to my house. I live 10 miles out of town and a 1/4 mile off the road. If that doesn't say leave me alone I don't know what does. Only thing worse is politicians. I had one show up and start honking the horn at 9 am while I working the night shift. Good thing he left before I figured out what was going on cause I was headed out there in my underwear.

I also had a shrimp peddler backup in my ditch and rut up my yard.

I grew up in Hathaway, La and these guys would always come by our place selling shrimp. We lived right by my grandparents and my grandmother bought a lot of shrimp this way. One time she got screwed by some guy who shorted her on shrimp. She had her own scale in the house somewhere and she weighed them after he left and noticed that she didn't get the amount she paid for. So after that she'd go in the house and get her own scale after they weighed them up with their scale. Some of them would get so pissed when she whipped out her scale in front of them and weighed them up lol. She didn't care.

Those are the guys that get a .22 sniper shot in the radiator.

Thus the reason for my gated 1/4 mile drive, way the hell out in the country

I put em in the same category as the guys selling steaks out of the trunk :shaking: im never that desperate to save a penny or that hungry to risk eating stuff you don't know is safe.

and if they aint dirty and stinky wearing shrimp boots, you can bet its not real fresh caught and its some tampered with 2nd or third hand old crap

My Stepdad used to sell shrimp to a peddler occasionally and the guy would only buy a little more than he had orders for. Just know who you're buying from and where they get the shrimp from. We used to sell to American Shrimp (I think that was the name) in Cameron and he paid over wholesale price but wouldn't buy 2 day old shrimp. I spent a lot of time smelling like shrimp in my white rubber boots.

One way to tell if they are fresh is to run your finger nail over the shell, the shell should be smooth. When shrimp are dipped the shells become pitted and you can feel it. I've never seen anyone dip them in bleach or even heard of that but they do dip them Sodium Sulphite.


My Grandpaw was a shrimper, they didn't have a freezer on the boat and would stay out a week at a time. If you ice shrimp down properly they will stay fresh up to a couple weeks. Don't think the shrimp that you are buying at Rouses are fresh either, that's IQF shrimp that are defrosted, not a bad a product but not fresh either.

Best way to buy them is to find a Shrimper and do business with him/her. My buddy makes over $100,000 a year pushing nets and has never had to go looking for customers. You have to make an order with him, when he's running in he fills all his orders, what ever isn't sold gets sold to the dock. A few times I had to wait a couple weeks for him get the size I wanted to put up in the freezer, but always fresh clean shrimp.

what did the girl look like?