If the pot is already on and there is no Old Bay in the cabinet, the swap we make is Tidewater, our organic seafood seasoning and crab boil. It goes in spoon for spoon, it lands in the same family of flavors — celery, paprika, pepper, a little warmth at the back — and all thirteen of its ingredients are printed on the label where you can read them.
That last part is the whole point, and it takes about two minutes to explain.
What is actually on each label
Old Bay is a good seasoning. Generations of people have shaken it over steamed crabs and been perfectly happy, and nothing here is meant to take that away. But if you turn the tin around, the United States ingredient statement is short: celery salt (salt, celery seed), spices (including red pepper and black pepper), and paprika. The brand describes the blend as eighteen herbs and spices. Most of them live inside the word “spices.”
That is legal, and it is extremely common. “Spices” is a permitted catch-all on a label, which is why so many jars in the grocery aisle tell you so little. If you have ever wondered what else gets to hide in that kind of shorthand, we wrote about one of the usual suspects in What Is an Anti-Caking Agent?
Here is Tidewater, in label order:
- Organic celery
- Sea salt
- Organic coriander
- Organic paprika
- Organic onion
- Organic garlic
- Organic mustard
- Organic black pepper
- Organic thyme
- Organic parsley
- Organic nutmeg
- Organic basil
- Organic cayenne
Thirteen things. No “spices.” No fillers, no anti-caking chemicals, no preservatives, no MSG. USDA Certified Organic, certified kosher, gluten free. If you are the person in the family who reads labels before anybody eats, this is a jar you can hand to your sister-in-law without a speech.
Celery first, salt second — and why that changes your pot
Celery salt is not celery. It is salt with ground celery seed mixed into it, which means that when celery salt is the first ingredient, salt is the first thing in the jar by a wide margin.
Tidewater leads with organic celery itself, and sea salt comes second. We build it lower in salt than most seafood seasonings on purpose. The practical result: when you are boiling five pounds of shrimp in a gallon of water, you will probably want to salt the water yourself rather than relying on the seasoning to do it. That is a feature. You are the one who knows how salty your people like their corn.
If label math is your thing, Is Sea Salt Lower in Sodium? walks through how to read the sodium line on a spice jar without a calculator.
How to swap it, measurement for measurement
Use Tidewater one for one anywhere a recipe calls for a classic bay-style seafood seasoning. A teaspoon is a teaspoon. Then adjust for two things:
- Heat. Tidewater is not spicy. There is organic cayenne in it, but it sits at the back of the list, which is where we want it for a crowd that includes somebody’s grandmother. If you are chasing a Louisiana crawfish boil, add cayenne to the pot separately and keep going until it bites.
- Salt. In a big boil, salt the water. Taste one shrimp before you drain the whole pot.
For a boil, the rule of thumb is half a jar per gallon of water, and hold some back. The seasoning that goes in the water flavors everything; the seasoning you shake over the drained pile on the newspaper is the part people actually taste first. Do both.
Where it goes besides shrimp
This is the part people underuse. A seafood seasoning that is mostly celery, paprika, onion and garlic is really just a savory all-purpose blend wearing a beach hat.
- Corn and potatoes. The best thing in the pot is frequently not the shellfish. Butter, Tidewater, a squeeze of lemon.
- Chicken thighs. Skin side up, 425°F, heavy sprinkle. It browns beautifully because of the paprika.
- Deviled eggs. A pinch in the yolk mixture and a dusting on top instead of plain paprika. Our deviled eggs guide has the ratios.
- A fry breader. Stir it straight into the flour or cornmeal for catfish, oysters, or green tomatoes.
- Bloody Marys. Rim the glass, stir a little into the pitcher. We put the whole thing down in the Tidewater Bloody Mary recipe, which is a genuinely useful thing to know in late December when relatives are in the house.
- Shrimp and grits. Here is ours, with bacon gravy.
And if you want the long version on shrimp specifically — boiled, cocktail, or a proper low-country spread for a table full of people — that is How Do You Season Shrimp?
If the pot is already boiling and you have nothing
We would rather be useful than pushy. If it is seven o’clock and shipping is not going to save you, you can get surprisingly close from the spice drawer:
- 2 teaspoons celery seed (or celery salt, and then cut back the salt below)
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne, more if you like it
- A pinch each of nutmeg and dried thyme
- Salt to taste
Grind the celery seed if you have a mortar or a clean coffee grinder; whole seed is harsh. This will not taste identical to anything in a tin, but it will make your crab legs taste like crab legs at the beach, which is the actual goal.
Jar or pouch?
Tidewater comes two ways. The 2.3 oz glass shaker jar is $9.49 and belongs on the table, because people will want more after the food is plated. The 5 oz resealable pouch is $13.49 and is the one to buy if you are boiling for a crowd or refilling the jar — a boil goes through seasoning faster than anything else you cook all year.
Both are the same blend. The pouch just means you stop rationing it.
The honest summary
If you love Old Bay, you love celery, paprika and pepper on seafood, and you will like Tidewater. The swap is one for one. The differences worth knowing are that ours is organic, it names all thirteen ingredients instead of grouping most of them under one word, it leans less on salt, and it is milder — so the heat is yours to add rather than somebody else’s to decide.
We are a small, family-run company in Charlotte, North Carolina, and this blend came from High-Tiders on the Outer Banks before it ever came from us. That part we did not invent.
If you would like to try it without committing to a whole jar, we send new folks 20% off a first order of $25 or more with the code WELCOME20 — you can join here. No pressure either way; the pantry recipe above is yours regardless.