Questions,
answered.

Two years from production, with the best-by date printed on the jar. Keep it in a cool, dry cupboard away from heat and direct sunlight, and reseal after each use — no refrigeration needed. Keeping moisture out is what matters most for a dried ingredient, so a tightly closed jar is the main thing. Go by the best-by date on your jar, and if a jar ever looks, smells or tastes wrong, don't use it.

Nothing. The ingredient statement is one line: Crayfish (Shrimp). No salt, no preservatives, no anti-caking agents, no fillers. Every batch is sifted to remove grit and shell fragments before it is packed. It does contain crustacean shellfish, so the allergen statement reads CONTAINS: CRUSTACEAN SHELLFISH (SHRIMP).

The jar contains one ingredient — dried crayfish — with no wheat, barley or rye, and nothing added. We have not put it through third-party gluten-free or halal certification, so we describe what is in it rather than claiming a certification we do not hold. If you need certified product for a commercial kitchen, email info@mexiafrique.com and we will tell you exactly where we stand.

At one tablespoon per serving, the 2.75 oz jar gives about 13 servings and the 5 oz jar about 23. That is arithmetic from the net weight, not an estimate of how many pots you will cook — how far a jar goes depends entirely on how generous you are with it. Most people find the small jar right for occasional cooking and the large one right for a household that makes soup most weeks.

It comes from Igbokoda in Ondo State, sourced whole and dried, then air-freighted to the United States and ground in small batches in Oregon. It is the same ingredient, from the same coast, handled by a family that cooks with it. The one difference you may notice is texture: we sift every batch, so there is less grit and fewer shell fragments than a market scoop usually has.

Start with one to two tablespoons for a pot of soup or stew, added early so the flavor has time to open up. Taste before adding more. Because it is ground rather than whole, it disperses further than you may expect from the same weight of whole crayfish — if you are used to cooking with whole, begin at the lower end.

Neither. It is savory — the deep background note cooks call umami — and it carries no heat at all, so it will not change how mild or hot your dish is. It is not fishy in the way dried fish can be: the flavor is closer to concentrated shellfish stock than to anything oceanic. In a finished pot you notice depth rather than crayfish.

Yes, and this is where our two kitchens meet. Ground dried crayfish and camarón seco are the same tradition on two coasts — small dried shrimp used to build a savory base. Use it anywhere a recipe calls for ground dried shrimp: caldo de camarón, salsa de camarón seco, the batter for tortitas. Because ours is already ground, skip the grinding step and add it straight in.

Early, in almost every case. For soups and stews, stir it in with the base so it has the whole simmer to develop. For egusi, add it as the melon-seed base fries. For jollof, add it with the tomato base. The exception is a finishing sprinkle over beans or moi moi, where a little added at the end gives a sharper, more distinct crayfish note.

On Amazon, where both jar sizes are listed. Delivery speed, shipping cost and whether an offer qualifies for Prime are shown on the listing itself and again at checkout — they depend on the offer and your own Amazon account. If we add another marketplace, a link to it appears on the product page.

Returns are handled by Amazon under their standard policy for grocery items, so start there — it is faster than going through us. If the problem is the product itself rather than the order — a jar that arrived damaged, or something that does not smell right — email info@mexiafrique.com and tell us the best-by date on the jar. We want to know, and we track it by batch.

Yes. We work with independent grocers, African, Caribbean, Mexican and Latin markets, restaurants and distributors. The wholesale page has our specifications and a downloadable line sheet, documentation for your buying team on request, and a form that reaches us directly. Tell us roughly what volume you are thinking about and we will come back with pricing.