How An Ohioan Forages for Clams in Massachusetts

Foraging for shellfish is one of Alex's great pleasures of vacationing oceanside. It's always happenstance when he comes across a bed of something tasty, so the method for digging is a bit untraditional. Here's how Alex, and later me, dug for clams yesterday on Planting Island causeway near Marion, Massachusetts.

1) Negotiate with the five year old for the use of her green plastic shovel.

click pictures for bigger images

2) Look for the telltale bubbles in sand that indicate something is breathing under the sand. Abandon the shovel and dig your fingers into the cold black muck.

3) Cheer when you pull up a quahog.

4) Be distracted when you find a whole conch, with dead animal inside. Try to remove animal because it reeks.

5) When your fingers are frozen, find a plastic sack in the car to hold your bounty. Make plans to cook chowder.

Mid Atlantic Spring Break: DC, Chincoteague, Antietam and more

We just returned from a vacation to the Chesapeake Bay and surrounds.  There were so many things I wanted to write about on the road but we never had good enough coverage to upload photos. Pictures are worth the wait, right? On Monday we drove west out of Ohio and stopped for lunch at the pre-researched Union Cafe in Washington PA.  We made our way to Rockville MD by evening and enjoyed a swim in the hotel pool before resting up for the next day.

Tuesday was our day to spend in Washington DC.   I expected Lil to be thrilled to ride the metro into the city but she was non-plussed.  As soon as we hit the National Museum of Natural History, though, she could not stop running excitedly from exhibit to exhibit.  We spent most of our time in the Oceans, Dinosaurs, Gems, Minerals, and Mammals halls.  We happened to be in the Butterfly exhibit when attendance was light and tickets were free, so we spent some time with live butterflies too.  Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus has a more spacious and beautiful exhibit, in my not unbiased opinion.

We left DC in the late afternoon to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Chincoteague Island.  We made our way into our vacation rental by the glow of the lighthouse.  Our fabulous home away from home, Eagle's View Bayfront Home, will have a post of its own very soon.

As advertised, the moment we woke up on Wednesday I spotted ponies across the marsh.  After harvesting some mussels and oysters from the muck, we drove over to the Chincoteague Island National Wildlife Refuge.  We saw more ponies from afar, bald eagles nesting, sika deer, and the endangered Delmarva fox squirrel.  Back at the ranch, we made steamed shellfish with asparagus mushroom linguine for dinner.  Later, Alex cooked up some fried oysters for an evening snack.

Thursday brought another windy day.  We hopped on bikes this time to view Chincoteague Island more closely.  Just past the visitor's center we spotted a monstrous snapping turtle.  At one of the overlooks I found a snake sunning itself.

After ten miles on the bikes we had resigned ourselves to going home without seeing a pony up close when this one walked by.

Following her were another ten horses with a stallion prodding them on from behind.  We were not fifteen feet away from these wild ponies. Lil was jumping up and down with excitement, not even pausing to take off her bike helmet, while I snapped picture after picture.

After a bit of lunch and rest, we headed towards the more touristy side of things. Island Creamery was a recommended stop for their homemade ice cream and we were not disappointed.  My praline cheesecake was a perfect profile of sweet and salty with crunchy bits of homemade praline laced throughout.

Alex chose cherry brandy with delicious real brandy soaked cherries in a waffle cone.  Their dense crumbly cones were unlike any I've seen elsewhere.  Lil's chocolate was rich, complex, and clearly tasty.  I wish I had more time and room in my tummy to taste enough flavors for a complete review!

We wandered through a few shops that sadly carried very little local memorabilia and did not hold our interest.  There is a sweet statue of Misty of Chincoteague near the town center, pictured above.

On the way back to the house, we purchased fresh flounder from Gary Howard's.  This place was a real-deal fisherman's outlet with hours-old clams, mussels, crabs, oysters, and fish.  We cooked up the flounder with stuffed mushrooms and baked sweet potatoes for dinner.

We left Chincoteague on Friday morning.  Lil was sad that we couldn't stay at the house longer and I agreed we could have occupied ourselves for many more days there.

We drove a little and met Alex's uncle Peter and aunt Susan at Pirate's Cove restaurant in Shady Side Maryland for lunch.  It was fun to catch up with our croquet-playing Chesapeake Bay-loving relatives, especially over regional specialties like cream of crab soup.

Alex wanted to see Antietam National Battlefield and what a lovely side trip that turned out to be.  The weather was cold but sunny and almost no other visitors were there.  We followed the split rail fences and viewed the copious monuments to the thousands of soldiers who died.  It was humbling to explain the events of the civil war in four year old terms to Lil.

I took a family picture looking into the sun at this marker to honor Ohio soldiers.

Friday evening found us in Hagerstown at another hotel pool.  We watched the basketball Buckeyes play Tennessee (and lose) and relaxed before a final day of driving back home today.

The dogs and chickens survived our absence with the help of our lovely neighbor Jan.  There was some interesting mail including asparagus crowns.  As it always seems to be, the vacation was over too quickly yet we are glad to be home.

Shellfish

I have always loved shellfish. Both sides of my family originated in New England, so maybe it runs in the blood. Growing up my family regularly visited the northeast coast every summer to see relatives and relax on the beach. At a young age I had already begun digging up razor clams and quahogs on the sand flats of Cape Cod Bay. I loved the clam chowder we could make from quahogs, but the razor clams always tasted rubbery to me. I was to later find out that we were simply not cooking them properly.

I am writing this post on our way back from another summer vacation in Massachusetts, and I thought it should be about my shellfish experience this year. For me, part of the fun of shellfish has always been harvesting them myself. Of course I like a good fried clam platter from Turks in Mattapoisett, but there is something very satisfying about digging up my own clams and mussels. As a general rule, shellfish are much more prevalent in sheltered waters versus open ocean. Let’s look at the different types of shellfish and where they can be harvested.

Mussels

Mussels can be found attached to most anything in the inter-tidal zone, but are most easily harvested from beds in flat sandy/muddy areas with plentiful sea grass growing.

These mussels are at Planting Island in Marion, MA. The mussels will be submerged ½ to 2/3 in the muck and need to be firmly pulled out. They will still have their ‘beard’ attached and may have seaweed stuck to their shells. Don’t clean off the beard until you are ready to cook them. Mussels are best prepared by steaming in a pot with wine or broth and plenty of aromatics. They are delicious and staple seafood of the Portuguese communities on Massachusetts’s south coast.

Clams

Clams in New England come in two main varieties in Massachusetts. Quahogs or littlenecks (cherrystone) are a thick shelled clam that is only differentiated by their size upon harvesting. They are delicious when eaten raw, but are the primary ingredient in traditional New England clam chowder (unlike Manhattan clam chowder, this is a creamy milk-based soup). The other variety is softshell clams (steamers). These clams are primarily consumed like mussels after they are steamed in an aromatic broth and dipped in butter prior to eating. These clams are also the clams used for fried clams or clam strips. Both varieties are found in sandy or muddy flats at low tide. The send up small siphons and can be spotted by the holes in the sand. Sometimes stepping near the hole will cause the clam to squirt water into the air. Quahogs reside very close to the surface, but softshell clams are much deeper dwellers and must be dug for vigorously as they will try to escape by burrowing deeper.

Oysters

In New England, oysters are present, but not as common as in warmer southern waters. They are usually found at low tide having washed off of theirs beds and ending up in the inter-tidal zone. They can be collected laying on the surface, but are not too frequent. Usually enough can be gathered for a small appetizer. A proper shucking knife, hand protection and a good demonstration is recommended before attempting to open oysters.

Scallops

Scallops are not usually encountered as they generally live far out to sea and dwell on the bottom. Occasionally, they will be washed into the inter-tidal zone and can be collected on the beach.

So what other issues surround shellfishing?  Like most types of hunting/fishing, every state regulates the practice to one degree or another.  Do you need a license to shellfish? The answer varies from state to state. Generally, most states allow a limited amount of harvesting for personal use with no license required. Additionally, you should always pay attention to fishery postings in a particular area prior to shellfishing. Conditions such as red tide or pollution can lead to serious sickness or death if warnings are not heeded. Also as a rule any shellfish that cannot hold its shell closed should be discarded out of hand as it could be diseased or dead and not fit for consumption.

So next time you are at the beach, look around and see what you can find. Dinner might be as simple as a few minutes work of gathering. Your efforts will be rewarded by a delicious meal fresh from the sea.