From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
From the genus Homarus, a crustacean whose edible, sweet flesh is found in the claws, knuckles and tail, its name derived from the Old English loppe, meaning "spider", referring to how the 10-legged creature moves. Like other crustaceans, lobsters turn red when cooked because of the pigment astaxanthin, which is released with heat. Like fowl, male and female lobsters are known as cock and hen, respectively. The "lady" is another name for the stomach, a small, white pouch found between its stalked eyes, which contains the lobster's teeth. The "coral" is the female's edible, delicious roe, greenish black and runny when raw and early in its development; coral color and firm when mature. The "tomalley" is the green-color liver and pancreas, often added to sauces or butters, once considered a delicacy but not recommended for regular consumption today, because these organs naturally filter and therefore collect environmental contaminants. It takes five to seven years for a lobster to reach its minimum legal harvest size, during which time it will molt about 25 times, discarding its shell and growing a new one each time to accommodate its growth. Similarly, if a lobster loses a claw, which it often does, usually in a fight, it will grow a new one. Despite its popularity, lobster wasn't embraced until the middle of the 19th century, probably because of its formidable physical characteristics, although records indicate that it made its way to the American table two centuries earlier.
