Crab Soup Festival on Corn Island

The Crab Soup Festival – Fiesta del Cangrejo – takes place on the Big and Little Corn Islands – Islas del Maíz – at the end of August. The Crab Soup Festival is one of the main festivals held here at the beautiful Corn Islands. The islands are situated in the Caribbean and are relatively isolated from the rest of the world.

The Corn Islands provide the perfect location for the Crab Festival, with their clear, blue waters and sandy white beaches. The Crab Soup Festival is considered an important occasion that commemorates the end of slavery on the Corn islands. During the Crab Festival there are a number of activities organized to keep every one entertained. Some of these activities include beauty pageants, street parades and a variety of sporting contests. Just like the name of the Nicaraguan event suggests, there are many crab dishes available for you to taste and enjoy.

One of the dishes that you will be able to taste at the Crab Festival is crab soup. Crab soup is pretty simple and can be made with a number of ingredients. The Maryland Crab Soup recipe uses diced celery, barley, frozen mixed vegetables, a can of stewed tomatoes, cold water, packets of powdered beef bouillon, back fin crab meat, vegetable oil and seafood seasoning to add to the taste.

First you combine the celery, water and bouillon in a reasonably large pot and allow the ingredients to come to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat and allow the ingredients to simmer for seven minutes. You can now add the crabmeat, tomatoes, oil, mixed vegetables and seasoning and bring to the boil. Reduce the temperature and simmer the food for 30 minutes. Remember to stir the food and once it has finished cooking you will have a lovely Crab Soup to enjoy before the real thing at the Crab Festival.

Apart from the Crab Soup Festival there are a number of other activities to take part in and lots of places to explore on the Corn Islands. The islands have stunning coral reefs, which blossom in the warm tropical waters. These coral reefs are great and exploring them can give you hours of pleasure. Fishing is excellent at the Corn islands and is another activity you can take part in while you are down for the Crab Festival.

You can expect the weather during the Crab Soup Festival to be very wet and muddy as the island normally receives rain every day. The wet season starts in the middle of May and ends in the middle of September. The Corn islands take up an area of twelve square kilometers (five square miles) and have a total population of about 8,000 people. While you are down for the Crab Festival you will probably hear Spanish, the official language of the islands, as well as Miskito and English, which some of the local people also speak.