Green Crab Garum

The hottest new ingredient is a Roman-style fish sauce made with green crabs. We sat down with Maine Garum Company Founder Liam Fisher to learn more about his garum, how it’s made, and how to use the ingredient.

Liam Fisher grew up in Rhode Island in a food forward family and studied mechanical engineering. After graduating, he wanted to make food central to his career so he began work as a line cook. He eventually shifted into aquaculture then seafood processing, where his engineering brain and kitchen instincts focused on how to take waste in the supply chain and turn it into something people want. Starting from an old dorm fridge turned incubator, he began experimenting with making the ancient Roman seasoning garum from fish scraps. Delicious results turned into a business idea: make garums that solve problems. Liam founded Maine Garum Company to do exactly that, launching eel garum in summer 2024, followed by green crab garum in December 2025.

Those looking to purchase a bottle can find it in stores across the US from Maine to California.

So what is garum? 

Garum is, and I like to use this particular language, the Roman word for fermented fish sauce.  It really represents a family of fermented fish sauces that were a universal seasoning tool in Mediterranean and European cuisines while the Roman Empire was still around. It was the ketchup of its time, just savory and salty instead of sweet. I think it is important to understand the reason that it is considered Roman and we use the word garum is because of the military and cultural power of the Roman Empire. This is a product that many, many people were using probably in many cultures in small communities that weren’t even recording the information, or the information that was recorded has been destroyed or lost to history. North Africa, Greece, Spain, are all places that had some relationship with garum.

Historically, it was made with a variety of whole fish, sometimes trimmings, that are mixed with salt and allowed to ferment. Over time the fish liquefies, breaking down into really delicious, savory compounds. After you filter out the solids you are left with a clear, amber, aromatic umami sauce that enhances anything you add it to. That’s garum.

What was your introduction to green crabs?

I really couldn't tell you when I first learned about green crabs. When I first moved to Maine I was so fortunate, in a way I did not understand at the time, to have landed a job at an oyster start up working out of the Darling Marine Center. The job was cool but being in that environment was magical. I got to spend a few years steeped in the science of our oceans and estuaries surrounded by experts enthusiastic to share their knowledge. I have to imagine it was sometime during my first summer there but really that whole time was a perspective shifting blur of knowledge accumulation that gave me a fundamentally different understanding and appreciation of ecosystems. (There was a lecture I attended in 2018 on marine parasites that continues to live rent free in my head.) Whenever I did learn about the green crab and its significance, it was years until I saw any opportunity to be involved in doing anything about the problem.

Can you share a little bit about the process of developing your garum? Any unexpected challenges?

I first got into making garum when a roommate came home from smelting with a bunch of super fresh little fish and said, “I don’t want to deal with these, you want them?” And I said, “Absolutely, I'm gonna make fish sauce!” After going through that process, it clicked for me that the least valuable component of a fish that’s most likely to get thrown away, the viscera, is the most important ingredient for making fish sauce. I saw an opportunity to get into the business of turning other people's problems into something delicious. I started out making an eel garum with trim from American Unagi but green crabs seemed like a natural next step. Abundant, invasive, and difficult to process but big on flavor that is perfect for a fermented seasoning.

For me, developing both of these products came down to three things: it has to be delicious, it has to be safe and legal, and it has to be profitable for everyone in the supply chain from harvester to retailer or restaurant. If it doesn’t check all three boxes, it won’t be able to sustain itself. I’ve spent the last six years trying to become a category expert on fish sauce, learning the consumer packaged good business, getting every food safety training out there, all while making and evaluating hundreds of batches of garum so I could begin to do those three things. It has been a tremendous amount of work and a lot of fun.

There have been a million challenges, big and small, mostly unexpected. Making garum is often the easy part, it's everything else that gets you. Installing my floor drain was a lot harder than I expected. Finding the right packaging from bottles to shipping boxes always feels like a challenge. The challenge of getting any interest from local restaurants was one of my biggest surprises but expanding my reach beyond Maine has been a lot easier.

What are some of your favorite recipes or dishes that use green crab garum?

The green crab garum is a versatile tool you can use to easily make a lot of what you eat better. Really any time you are making seafood, it has a role to play. Steamed mussels, gumbo, shrimp fried rice, spaghetti and clams, chowders, cocktail sauce all benefit from a glug of garum. I always encourage people to think of it as liquid salt. Make a seafood dish you love but in place of salt add garum to taste, you’ll be amazed by the result. 

My absolute favorite is to make a green crab butter sauce (beurre blanc-esque) to dip my lobster or steamers in. It's a great way to upgrade the standard melted butter:

How does your eel garum differ in taste compared to your green crab garum?

The eel and crab garums have a lot in common. They are both salty, caramelly and intensely savory. They differ mostly in their aromatics. The eel is super clean and delicate, subtly oceanic, very distinct from the pungent fish sauces you will find in most grocery stores. This means it can be used to bring umami to foods most people are surprised by, chocolate chip cookies, mashed potatoes, margaritas. I even put a few drops in my morning coffee. The crab in comparison is much more assertive with a distinctly crab flavor. You may not want it in a dessert like the eel but it really has the power to elevate savory dishes that welcome a bit of funk like pad thai, seafood curry, papaya salad and barbecue

Where can people find your garum?

You can order directly from me on the online store or check out the list of retailers on the website to see if there is a shop near you. Any restaurants or retailers interested in the garum should reach out on the website to learn more.