Take away the tomalley!

I could barely stand to look at the picture of tomalley. Blech! If I notice a tiny speck of green on the lobster meat, I can't finish eating. Rule of thumb for me is when any food is described as a "delicacy" to run away, fast as I can! It usually refers to eyeballs, feet or some hideous internal organ not meant for human consumption.

AHHH!!

Type your comment here...

heck yeah! I love that green stuff! I'm the only one in my family who will eat it though.

It never appealed to me but I grew up in Maine and my mother used to eat hers and everyone elses'

As a resident of Cape Cod and a lobster lover, I (used to) eat every speck of the lobster. But, I guess it makes sense health-wise to give up the tomalley. At least til the red tide subsides. But, lobsters are not the only seafood/fish that are registering high level of toxins nowadays. Ever look at the toxin charts for such things a fresh tuna, swordfish etc? Man, we have totally messed with our food sources.

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGh No way

If the FDA says it's bad, it must be good

This photo makes me ill.

FYI

Oh that's so disgusting. Of course I'm allergic to shellfish anyway and to each his own....but....ugh.

NO way!! That sh*t is nasty to look at forget putting it in my mouth!!!

Love it --- we were taught to eat the ENTIRE body.
But we'd always leave alittle of the green stuff up by the stomach -- after all, back in the good ol' days, THAT was the only part that was supposed to be able to hurt us.

You bet - all I can get.

Rob

C'mon.. Think about what you put in your mouth in college..

Seriously, who needs to be told not to eat that? The FDA didn'y mention it, but it's probably a good idea to avoid eating the shell too as it's a choking hazard.

I don't eat insects whether they come from land or sea.

it's good with rice

Go Vegan.

I love that stuff, and I will still chance it. No toxin is going to scare me from the best part of the lobster.

Yummy Gallstones, just what Im in the mood to eat!

I eat Green!

What is the dark black stuff in there with it? Two and a half pound lobsters. Three out of eight had it in last night;s fresh cooked dinner. Also had the red roe.

Absolutely, looks and tastes just like guacomole...sort of...

Yep, always liked it. My grandfather taught me to enjoy it, along with the 'coral' in females, which are eggs, as I understand it. Biologically, the liver and pancreas do deal with removing toxins no matter what the 'animal'. If you can get past the fact that lobsters are basically big oceanic spiders/scorpions, the tomalley is the least of your concerns.

db

I just love tomalley but do not eat it because it is so unhealthy.

Is anyone who eats that nasty green stuff even concerned about getting sick? DISGUSTING - BLAH!!!

Darn, I have eaten a heck of a lot of that stuff over the years.

Drats - I love the stuff - I eat it every chance I get on our annual east coast vacation - and yes I even steal it off my husband's plate. At least we still have the roe!

Al Gore is spoiling everything nowadays!

Grew up in Maine eating it and I'm still alive 51 years later! But I'll avoid it on my next trip up...

3 out of 8 of your 2 1/2 lb. lobsters were pregnant....

My personal rule of thumb as a biologist, for eating any animal: eat the meat and eggs, stay away from internal organs like the liver, pancreas, kidneys and so on. These organs concentrate the toxins; sometimes they can manage to break the toxins down and eliminate them, but often they just stock them up. So eating that is like eating the waste from a miniature chemical factory. It probably won't kill you outright, but the toxins will end up accumulating in your own internal organs, increasing your risk of suffering some kind of organ failure later in your life. No icky green goo is worth that...

My Acadian Ancestors have eaten Lobster and tomalley for over 300 years. Many of them in the 18th and 19th Centuries lived well into their 80s and 90s. I'll keep eating the tomalley. In fact this blog post inspired me to go get a 3 pounder. Yum Yum Yum. that's lot of tomalley. I'll let you know if I get numb.

Bleeechhhhh!!! Deeeeeesgusting!

i LOVE it, and as one other comment noted, it's great with rice! people need to get over their food aversions!

I love the tomalley. It's packed with flavor. I also use it and the bodies to make a tomato based, lobster pasta sauce...to die for. I agree with the biologist above that organs probably do have more toxins but...livers, kidneys, brains, some fava beans and a nice chianti... organs are delish.

I live in Bar Harbor and lobster is everywhere...gotta eat it all.

I only ate the "green stuff" once, with some pals. We wound up laughing so hard the other diners were staring at us.
We figured it must have been feeding on a bale of "wacky weed" that had been jettisoned from a drug runner.

Best part about the tomalley is that we are few who appreciate it and so can scavage from all weakhearted their lobster carcasses. Many times we have rescued abundant amounts of tomalley to be stored in the fridge and used for Tomalley Sandwiches the next day. The REAL aficionados scoop out the tomalley and discard the lobster!

I always thought it was lobster feces.

yummy

Don't forget the mercury and other heavy metals. Anything that functions as the liver is going to retain that stuff also. Why do you think people stopped eating it in the 1970s?

Ahhh the scavenger of the sea... I eat like 6-7 lobsters at a sitting, and I'll chance that every single time.

Think of all the other food that is tainted by one thing or another...

Funniest thing about lobster is that it used to be the "poor kid lunch" and now i't 10+ Bux a pound! For that much - Damn right I'm eatin the tomalley!!!

Tomalley - toxin scare
Beef - mad cow scare
Tomatoes - salmonella scare ... oopsy, FDA made a booboo
Jalapenos - the "real" salmonella scare
Soy - infertility scare

Bring it on FDA! Maybe you should list all foods as obesity scare as well....

Irradiation you stupid Americans, your food industry does not want it. Food lasts to long. Totally safe, you stupid Americans............

Thanks for the tomally scare. Lobster tails are $6.99ea in Alabama. Having a lobster fest tonight baby.....

That green stuff is good! I eat it all the time!
People have been experiencing those symptoms because they ate their seafood from contaminated waters!

I served lobster oreganato over linguini for a dinner party Saturday night. The sauce was a mix of olive oil, garlic, herbs and small amount tomalley (the rest-- that from 7 other lobsters, I ate myself). It was truly the most delicious thing I have ever made. At the end of the party, one of my guests announced she was pregnant. Did I put her baby at risk?

Agreed with the person who said people need to get over their food aversions. For every open minded person who's willing to try something new, there's always some corn fed back water layman making an "ewwww!" face at you. Don't like it? Turn away and enjoy your velveeta sandwich, half wit.
Now, as far as health issues go, I can understand why people would avoid lobster tomalley (or "mustard" as it's so lovingly referred to). But to immediately brush it off because of its color? Because of its being a liver? At least we KNOW what it is, and what's in it (healthy or not). No HFCS or MSG here :)