CajunCrawfish, a local, family-owned and operated farm based in Branch, La., is sharing Acadiana’s love of crawfish with the entire country. As one of the largest exporters of crawfish in the state, CajunCrawfish specializes in shipping live crawfish directly to your door, fresh and ready to be boiled.
Courtney Fruge, creative director and co-owner of CajunCrawfish, is proud of the quality which CajunCrawfish provides to customers. She attributes the freshness of crawfish from the farm to the fact that they do not use a middleman to resell their crawfish, but rather, the orders and shipments go directly through the farm. “The benefit is that your crawfish are as fresh as possible,” Fruge explains.
CajunCrawfish is based on the Fruge family’s farm, Fruge Aquafarms. “My husband Michael and his brother Mark were pioneers in the crawfish industry. Their family had farmed rice since 1896 on 20 acres. The boys took those 20 acres and added crawfish to them and have grown it to thousands of acres,” recalls Fruge. This family business has expanded along with the increase in acres, with about 15 people working the farm during the off-season, and about 35 working during the main harvesting season. Additionally, the farm offers tours when requested and scheduled in advance.
Wondering about the difference between farm-raised and swamp crawfish? “Farm-raised are like us, inland and raised on rice and bait. They are a sweeter crawfish. Swamp are wild crawfish that live off other wild things, so they have more of a bite to their flavor. Swamp crawfish generally are not ready until May and sometimes available throughout summer (which is nice to extend a season). But they are not always available,” elaborated Fruge.
We have the experience and staff to make your party a huge success and recognize that our customers are not just buying crawfish, they are making memories. Every sack we sell represents a special event, usually with family and friends.
— Fruge Aquafarms’ Courtney Fruge
At Fruge Aquafarms, the Fruge family alternates crops of rice with crops of crawfish. This rotation is perfect because the crawfish eat the rice stalks. “Around October, we usually see a bunch of crawfish babies moving around. It takes three months to grow to maturity. A female can have anywhere from 200 to 800 eggs on her tail at one time. That is a lot of babies,” explains Fruge. “Live season is generally from January through the end of June, with March, April and May as your best months (cheaper, juicier, hardier and more plentiful).”
The beginning of crawfish season can vary per year but is generally December or January. “Our crawfish are caught on smallpushed boats. They have a mini-grader on board, and they throw back the tiny ones and any turtles, snakes, snails and grass. Once caught, they bring them back to the farm, and we put them on our washer–grader to be cleaned. No one wants a dirty crawfish,” explains Fruge.
At the start of the season, CajunCrawfish sells a mixed bag full of all sizes. But later when the crawfish are hardier and bigger, the farm grades out the larger ones.
“Then you would have two choices of sizes. Our ‘Quality’ sack will be mostly medium-sized, and our ‘Select’ sack will be the largest of the catch that day. Once sacked, they are either put on our trucks to go to restaurants or individually packaged in a 3-inch-thick ice chest with gel ice and sent to customers’ doors via FedEx. The ice chest contains the live crawfish, seasoning (our special blend), and complete instructions on how to cook,” says Fruge.
Courtney is also an expert at crawfish shipments for events, such as company crawfish boils. “I love helping people with their events, showing them how easy we make it.”
CajunCrawfish has done a variety of events from family gatherings and birthday parties, to Mardi Gras festivities or political events and fundraisers. “We have the experience and staff to make your party a huge success and recognize that our customers are not just buying crawfish, they are making memories,” says Fruge. “Every sack we sell represents a special event, usually with family and friends.”
While events range in all sizes, one of the largest events which Fruge recalls involved shipping 37 ice chests to Washington, D.C., for a political fundraiser. That’s a lot of crawfish!
CajunCrawfish currently ships domestically within the U.S., with some exceptions due to individual state regulations. Since the shelf-life of the crawfish during their strongest point of the season is three to five days, “We do not ship internationally because they would not survive the trip,” explains Fruge.
Customers can purchase crawfish online at www.cajuncrawfish.com as well as at restaurants throughout Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.