Have you ever eaten shrimp and noticed a thin black strip along their back?

The technique to remove this strip is called deveining, but it’s actually not a vein: it’s the shrimp’s digestive tract, and the dark shade is from grit in the tract. The “vein” isn’t harmful if eaten.

It’s not essential to devein shrimp, but for some people, it is aesthetically pleasing to remove the thin black strip found in them.

It’s more noticeable in larger shrimp — and it’s much easier to remove. You might not even see it in smaller shrimp, but it is simple enough to get rid of that we at Wild American Shrimp feel that everyone should know how to do it.

Here, Chef Todd Reilly shows a quick and easy way to devein wild-caught, American shrimp as well as peel them:

Now that you have peeled and deveined shrimp, here’s a great recipe to try — Shrimp Creole from Spicy Southern Kitchen:

For more recipes featuring Wild American Shrimp, visit our Recipes Page.