December 10, 2025 • 35 mins
These marine mollusks can be enjoyed raw, steamed, or cooked into all kinds of dishes. Anney and Lauren pry open the science and history behind hard clams (aka Northern quahogs).
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie
Reach and I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Learned vocal bum and today we have an episode for
you about the hard clam or cohog.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yes, was there any particular reason this was on your mind? Lauren?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Uh, we hadn't done a protein in a minute, and
especially not like a weird seafood one. Y'all know how
much we like talking about ocean about yeah, underwater life.
It's so weird and delicious, and yeah, this is one
(00:46):
that often goes into a variety of stuffing or dressing
for the holidays. And so I was like, oh, yeah,
that's a good that's a good December episode.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Sure. Yeah, have you ever had I've never had that.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I've never had that either, and now I really want it.
The cravings you guys, Oh my goodness. I do love
a clam chowder and New England style is my personal preference.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
But you do you and hoofta, Yes, I already have
some clam chowder that I am anticipating. Oh I forgot
to get some.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Oh okaylul we can rectify this.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I have the technology. Yes, I would definitely love to
hear from listeners about this. I had known that it
was part of kind of a holiday stuffing in New
England especially, but I've never had it, so I would
love to hear from listeners about this one.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Oh it sounds so good. I mean, I love a
stuffing or dressing situation in any case. Like I'm like, yeah,
I want some bread that you put some herbs in. Yeah,
and made a kind of cast role out of that's delicious.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know what. I convinced my mom to half her
stuffing recipe. Oh wow, it was. It was way too much.
Oh okay, Like we used to have a much bigger gathering, sure,
and now it's smaller. And it was just I just
told her, we need I think we should have this.
(02:20):
I don't think we need this much. And everybody's kind
of tired of it after four days. Oh wow, there's
an undue amount of stuffing. Okay, okay, fair, But I'm
I'm I feel kind of bad because I'm the one
always pairing out, Like, let's get rid of the rolls,
let's get rid of the hand, let's get rid of
the I just don't like food waste. No, that's reasonable,
(02:43):
thank you. I have to say I found a very
wonderful rabbit hole. In this episode of pun based clam names.
One of my favorites I found was aberclam Lincoln. Oh wow, okay,
aberclam Lincoln is not the type of clam we're talking
about today, but it is a type of clam. Wow,
(03:06):
I just I laughed. I was unaware. Aberclam Lincoln is
so good. That's very funny, extremely high quality. Yes, excellent,
And that was one of many that I found cool.
All Right, if we were talking about the Southern Cohogue,
I would go into the story of aberclam Lincoln, but
(03:28):
we are not, not today. But I'm sorry now, heck
well later, just have that as a teaser in You're Caring, gotcha? Yes,
so past episodes, I would say oysters, blue muscles, chowders, lobster, scallops. Yeah,
I love that scallop episode.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Oh goat, y'all go look up pictures of scallops again.
Even if you did it the first time.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Do it again. You're so weird. It's a gift. It's
a gift. But I guess this brings us to our question. Sure,
hard clams, what are they? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Hard clams, also called the Northern cohog, are a type
of hard shelled clams so appropriately named I guess, which
means that it's a squishy little blob that grows itself
a hinged pair of half shells in which to live,
In this case in coastal saltwater areas, we harvest them
whole in their shells, which are a convenient package, and
(04:36):
then eat the squishy blob in various ways. It'll have
a tender, slippy texture that will firm up and can
become sort of chewy as it cooks, and a sweet, briny, savory,
rich kind of flavor. They might be sold fresh or frozen,
whole or shelled. They might be preserved via canning. With
(04:57):
whole fresh clams, you can pry open the shell and
eat them raw, perhaps dressed simply with a bit of
lemon juice or vinegar or hot sauce. But often, and
depending on their size, they're steamed for just a few
minutes in their shells, which then open fairly easily, and
the meat or the whole clam in the shell will
be added to dishes like soups or stews or sauces
(05:19):
to be paired with starches like pasta or bread or rice.
And yeah, they're just really lovely. They're just just a
hearty little bite of the ocean.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
The texture's really good. I really like when you get
it right.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, bad texture, just tender with like a little bit
of chew to it. I've never had them raw, and
now I really want to try that.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, more cravings for things I haven't even had.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The northern cohog or hard clam species name Mercenaria mercenaria. Yeah,
they go. Buy a bunch of other names as well,
like the round clam or the ches clam, or specific
names based on their harvest size. More on that later.
They are bivalve molluscs bivalve meaning two shells, and mollusc
being a phylum of soft bodied animals that tend to
(06:11):
be mostly muscle, which is fun for us because muscle
is generally the type of meat that we're most interested
in eating. Hard clams are from the eastern Atlantic shore
of North America and can live anywhere from like Nova
Scotia to Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico, though
they are most common from around like Cape cod to
New Jersey, and they have been introduced to other places.
(06:34):
There's also a couple other species in Mercenaria that overlap
with hard clams territory, and they can interbreed, but that's
not super relevant today, aside from aberclam Lincoln. Yeah, yes, yeah,
very important, very very very relevant always. These clams live
in the intertidal and subtidle areas. That is, like shallows
(06:57):
that are mostly to always covered in water. They'll burrow
into the sand or mud and eat by filtering phytoplankton
like microscopic plants and bits of dead stuff out of
the water. Their shells are hard and thick, gray to
cream to white in color, with two more or less
equally sized halves. Each half is shaped sort of like
(07:19):
a jaunty little elf cap, with like a bent rounded
point at the hinge that will expand out to a
broad half circle at the opening. The shells are banded
on the outside with slightly ridged growth rings, and are
smooth on the inside with white and violet coloration in there.
They'll keep adding rings to the outer lip of their
(07:42):
shells as they age. The youngest and smallest size for
harvest are, depending on local laws, at least an inch
across at their widest point, but they can grow to
five inches or more hypothetically, and they can live for
over forty years. They'll be about as tall at their
tallest point near the hinge as they are wide at
(08:04):
their widest point, which is across the diameter of that
half circle at the opening.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Inside that shell, they have a pair of muscles that
hold the shell shut or or can relax to open it,
and a pair of siphons to draw in and expel
water and stuff that The inward siphon has little sensory
tentacles that help it find food. I love a good tentacle.
They also have a foot muscle that they'll use to
burrow down into the sander mud that they stay fairly
(08:33):
stationary once they've reached adulthood. The clam's body is surrounded
by a sort of goopy mantle, which is what secretes
the material of the shell, and their life cycle goes
like this, okay. During the warmer months of the spring
to fall, male and female clams will each broadcast spawn,
meaning they release their sex cells out into the water.
(08:56):
A female hard clam will produce some one to five
million eggs during a single spawning up to like forty
million a year, which sounds like a lot, but a
lot of them won't fertilize or survive if they do fertilize.
So yeah, the cells travel in water currents and if
they do meet up, they will fertilize, creating tiny larvae
that develop a sort of proto shell. Those will swim around,
(09:20):
eating whatever even tinier stuff they find in the water column,
and when they grow enough, they'll develop their foot, lose
their ability to swim around, and develop their water siphons,
at which point they will sync to the seafloor and
burrow in and attach themselves to the substrate while they
develop their calcified shell, after which they'll be heavy enough
to stay put on their own again. They're mostly stationary,
(09:42):
but they can budge around a bit if they want to,
seeking you know, food or personal space. They can also
rarely develop pearls as they grow when some irritant gets
stuck in their shell and they coat it over shell lining,
and those pearls can be white to like this really
pretty deep purple in color. Most hard clams begin life
(10:05):
as a male, but will change to being female as
they get older and or due to population demands, but
can also revert back or can exist as hermaphrodites. It
takes one to four years for them to grow to
the smallest harvest size, before which they're called seed. They're
really widely farmed but also wild harvested, mostly recreationally in
(10:28):
like smaller amounts, because you basically just have to like
wade around until you find them, usually with your feet,
and then you.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Just pick them up. Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
There are a bunch of fishing industry names for these
guys based on the size of the clam at harvest,
and there's no like hard and fast rules here. Classifications
can vary, but generally speaking, from smallest to largest, you've
got count necks, little necks, top necks, cherry stones, and
then showder clams or cohogs. As they get older and larger,
(11:04):
they also get firmer in texture and stronger in flavor.
The younger, smaller ones are more tender and more likely
to be served raw or maybe gently steamed and or
added to dishes at the end of cooking. The older
and larger ones tend to benefit from a longer cook
time to tenderize them, and thus often go into baked
or simmered dishes. Also, the brine inside of the shells,
(11:29):
or the brine that they're packed with, in the case
of canned clams, is super flavorful and can be used
in sauces, broths, you know, whatever you like, Especially when
they're farmed. Hard clams are considered a good sustainable seafood choice.
You know, as they're growing, they help the environment by
filtering the water they're farming. Equipment like trays or mesh
(11:49):
bags that are secured to the ocean floor can be
incorporated into the environment without really displacing or disrupting much
other marine life. They're also available year round. A couple
very popular New England to mid Atlantic dishes include clam chowder,
which comes in varieties of tomato based red or Manhattan style, creamy,
root based white or New England style, and broth based
(12:13):
clear or Rhode Island style. You can see our chowder
episode for more on all of those, and then stuffed
baked clams, which involve taking raw or lightly steamed clam meat,
chopping it up and adding it to a nice moist
mixture of breadcrumbs and seasonings. You know you've got like wine, briny, clam, liquid, herbs, cheese,
(12:33):
aromatic sausage. I don't know and then spooning that back
into the clam half shells and baking until golden brown.
This is sometimes called stuffies, I think in Rhode Island specifically,
and also from Rhode Island, a specific variation that incorporates
ingredients like bacon bits and bell peppers is called clams Casino.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I always wondered what clams casino is, so thank you. Yeah,
it's the butt of a joke that I, oh, I remember.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So I kept reading that word and I was like,
is there a casino called clams casino? Is it a
casino for clams? And then my brain just went to
a lot of different Yeah, yeah, is this a SpongeBob thing?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I'm not sure. Yeah, it could be very well, could be.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
All right, Well, hard clams are also great as an
ingredient in pastas or like saucy rice dishes like payea
or risotto, or steamed hole with a broth of like
wine or beer, plus butter and some clam juice, you know,
to be picked out of their shells and the broth
spooned up or sopped up with bread. You can chop
(13:42):
them up and add them to fritters or to holiday stuffing.
Slash dressing or to like a savory pie filling, typically
with a creamy sort of gravy, and maybe potatoes like
a bit like a thick white clam chowder in a crust. Yeah,
we should probably do a whole episode on clam bakes
at some point point. Clam bake is a festive and
(14:03):
or community method of slow steaming hard clams, along with
other shellfish vegetables like potatoes, corn on the cob, and
maybe some aliums, especially at the beach. More notes on
that in the history section. But yeah, also, I will
say that if you're looking to cook with fresh clams
and you don't have experience doing that, there is a
lot of good advice out there about it. Generally speaking,
(14:25):
you want to scrub them down and soak them in
salted water for a little while before cooking them to
kind of get the grid out, and then you want
to discard any clams that either won't close before cooking
or won't open after cooking, which indicates a clam that
was not at the height of its health.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, speaking of what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You know, by themselves, they are a great source of
protein and good fats. Once you've cooked them. It depends
on how much butter you've used, and you're like ratio
of clams to breadcrumbs or pasta or whatever. There are
a few types of bacteria that live in oceans that
can be present in clams and other filter feeding shellfish,
(15:12):
but farms and public health officials do monitor for them,
and you can always cook your seafood to safe temperature
if you're concerned about that. There are also some types
of algae that produce toxins that are fine for the
clams but will make us sick if we eat those clams,
but environmental programs do watch out for those, so it's
you're pretty safe.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Okay, got it. We do have some numbers for you.
We do.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
As of twenty nineteen, US hard clam production from farms
from farms alone was about ten point seven million pounds,
which is about four point nine million kilos worth about
one hundred and twenty two million dollars. Wow, big big
plam industry. Yeah. Adult hard clans can filter about two
(16:02):
gallons of water an hour. It's about eight liters of
water an hour. Yep, yep, uh huh. And the town
of East Hampton, New York, holds a largest clam contest
every like late September early October. How it goes is this,
(16:23):
during a week long window, entrance who must have a
local shellfish license, may dig for clams and submit one
for a one dollar entry fee. This contest has been
running since nineteen ninety and thus was in its thirty
fifth year this year. The clam winners are literally crowned
and placed on a tiny throne. And I couldn't find
(16:48):
like exact sizes or waits for winning clams of the past,
but the photos are like they're like adult hand sized,
so like so like easily five plus inches Like yeah, okay, yeah.
They do also hold a clam chowder contest on the
day of judging with categories or measuring. I guess it's
(17:10):
not really judging with categories for red and white plus
you know, like the normal festival stuff live music, clam
pie tastings, barbecue, you know. Yeah, speaking of festivals, I
did see a couple clam festivals that exist, but I
couldn't ascertain exactly what kinds of clams were involved, so
I didn't want to like misrepresent the clam festivals.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, I did run into that doing this research again.
Aberclam Lincoln yeah, like, this is not the clam we're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, that's the Southern cohug. That's a different that's a
different species. Also, what's called the Ocean cohug is a
different genus entirely. There was some clam confusion, I've got to.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Say, a lot of clam confusion, and to be honest,
there continues to be some.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
There does, there does, and we are going to get
into that in the history section, which we're going to
get into as soon as we get back from a
quick break. For a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, so Yes,
clams are old. Okay, I feel defensive at the front
of this, Okay, I'll try to dial it back. Fossil
evidence dates clams back to up to three million years ago.
(18:47):
The hard clam itself is native to the East coast
of North America. Oh gosh, some of these episodes get
so overwhelming when you're trying to put it into simple
forty minute overview and a perspective that is followable, but
exactly exactly. Humans with access to clams have been eating
(19:13):
them for thousands and thousands of years. For example, First
Nations peoples and what is now Canada. We're cultivating clam
gardens over five five hundred years ago. These gardens were
well cared for and prosperous, largely due to the responsible
harvesting by the First Nations people and indigenous peoples in
(19:35):
the Americas in general have been harvesting and eating clams
for thousands of years. They prepared them in a whole
host of ways, including smoking or drying them, and they
were added into a bunch of dishes. For instance, indigenous
peoples in the New England area are likely the ones
(19:55):
who conducted the first clam bakes by digging a hole,
filling the bottom with seaweed, followed by a layer of
fresh clams, another layer of seaweed, and lastly some wood
for the fire. They would often stew the clams as well,
along with beans, corn, and sometimes other meats, which some
(20:16):
dub as the first clam chowders. We're a food show,
but this could be a whole thing. I oh absolutely,
oh my gosh. But the shells were used to make beads,
tools of all kinds, jewelry, to tell stories on garments,
(20:38):
and after the arrival of Europeans, as an item to
barter with yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Their eventual species name Mercenaria is a reference to their
value in trading.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yes, and archaeological evidence suggests that the shells were being
used by indigenous peoples over four thousand years ago. Some
indigenous folks would bear or their loved ones with these
shales as far back as fourteen hundred BCE, so they
were really really important.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, and they are beautiful on the inside. If you've
never seen the inside of a hard clamshell, that's your
second photo photo assignment of the day.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yes, go check. I should give out homework at the Alps.
We should. When European colonizers arrived in New England, they
anglicized the nar Againsett word for the clams to cohog. Later,
in seventeen fifty eight, Carlinaeus coined the species name. According
(21:37):
to some sources, colonists in the area only ate clams
as a last resort in the early days of colonization,
or they assaulted them to sell to fishermen as bait
or use them as food for their pigs. For them,
it was associated with the impoverished and association they did
not want so did not want to eat them. Over time,
(21:58):
that did change, especially with the help of refrigeration, transportation, railways,
and for some leisure time. We talked about this in
past episodes, especially lobster I think is really relevant for
this one. But the clams went from being something that
was associated with the poor to something associated with luxury
(22:18):
and leisure. Yeah, yeah, oysters as well, Yeah yes, yes,
Indigenous preparations like chowder and clam bakes were adopted. Previously,
many people outside of the East Coast in the US
couldn't get these clams, but with the advent of rail travel,
they were having them on trains, or taking trains to
New England to have them in restaurants, or digging them
(22:40):
up themselves while visiting beaches in New England, and clams
may have been used as a substitute for fish or
other seafood if the chef was out or at the
guest requests. You could basically kind of find them yourselves,
bring them into a restaurant and be like put them
in a dish deemed fried or in a chowder. Clams
(23:02):
showed up more and more on New England menus up
until the early nineteen hundreds. Clams were harvested by waiting
in shallow waters and feeling for them with your feet
or with a rake affixed with a bucket on the end.
So it was kind of a It was painted as
something that could be a very almost tourist activity. Yeah,
(23:26):
go out and do it. Yeah. Yeah. There were a
few attempts to establish hard clam populations in England and
France from the mid eighteen hundreds to the mid nineteen hundreds.
A few of them were successful for many years before
dying off. There's been a lot of studies on this
and most of them kind of were like it lasted
for a little bit. But speaking of in nineteen oh one,
(23:51):
dead shells of hard clams were found off America's West coast.
Over the decades, a few live ones were reported over there,
but nothing substantial. By nineteen oh nine, researchers were writing
about their concerns of the depletion of the clan population
in New England. A report by one doctor David Belding
(24:12):
included this quote, all hopes for themorrow are sacrificed to
the clamorous demands of the present, And I just the clamorous,
clamorous demands of the present is a a beautiful turn
of phrase, and be the best pun i've read this week.
(24:33):
I agree. I love it so much that it's excellent.
I almost couldn't believe it when I read it, Like,
oh yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Was reading through your notes and I was like, oh no,
I like I stopped, and I like, I like clutched
my pearls and I cackled.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah. Doctor Belding was like, yeah, I got to put
a pun in here. That's soft. Despite all of this worry,
clamming continued. Clamors in the fifties and sixties would trawl
for clams via boats. They would separate their catch into
sizes and silently count them, sometimes over a thousand clams
(25:18):
at a time. That didn't change until the eighties, when
clamors started using a machine that sorted the clams by size.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And if you're wondering about the silent note, because I was,
there's a there's a beautiful story written about this about
just the the intensity of the sorting. And you know,
you would have all of these workers who were sorting
all of these clans and trying to get through these
piles and piles and piles of them, and they would
they would just do it in complete silence, because apparently,
(25:46):
you know, no one no one could chat and still
keep count, and it was just a serious venture.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
So yeah, anyway, Oh, I get it. It's hard to
keep count when there's any distractions, especially numbers a large no, no, no, no.
Stepping back a bit, in the nineteen forties and fifties,
a lot of research got underway around cultivating hard clams,
eventually leading to hatchery technology. This in turn led to
(26:13):
commercial production of hard clams in the US, but at
first producers encountered a lot of issues, primarily that predators
would consume the seed.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, yeah, they would be like, I think especially crabs
they had a problem with, but yeah, they would be like, oh,
you just put all of this delicious stuff in this
one place for me, thank you. There was also an
issue with providing feed for the newly spawned hard clams.
You know, like if you have them in a protected
or artificial environment like a pond or something, you have
(26:43):
to provide algae that's small enough for the spawn to eat,
and ideally that algae shouldn't cost you more than you're
going to make from selling the developed clams. So it
was another thing that they were working on.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yes, and only a limited number of clams survived long
enough to be sold. To combat the predator problem, specific
clam plantings with protections in place got underway in the
nineteen seventies. Research collected from these efforts led to improved
protection and hatchery techniques. Thanks to this, the production of
(27:18):
hard clams via aquaculture along the North American East Coast proliferated.
Research into the hard clam in Virginia during the nineteen
sixties and seventies led to the US's largest hard clam industry.
Around the same time, there were purposeful efforts to install
(27:39):
hard clam populations off the coast of California and Hawaii.
Most eventually failed, but one off of Long Beach, California,
lasted for a couple of decades before collapsing, which is
kind of the story. As I said, in nineteen eighty seven,
Rhode Island named the cohog as the state shell.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Oh. I knew that there was something like that, but
I couldn't track it down, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Yes, And speaking of the shell, recently, scientists have been
using the shells to study the ocean and climate change.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, because of those growth rings, sort of like you
can look at the rings of a tree and kind
of figure out what the weather patterns were based on
how vigorously the tree grew in different years. Yeah, you
can study shells in the same way and or similar way,
and yeah, it's super cool.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It is. I highly recommend reading about it because it
was one of those things where it just was like, oh,
I've got to think about this on a deeper level. Okay,
just the way they were writing about it, about how
the ocean shows climate change in different ways and how
it's changed. Yeah, and how these shells demonstrate it. It's cool. Again,
(28:57):
we're a food podcast. The shells are amazing and they
have a huge history. So yeah, I'll look that up
if you're interested.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, I'm sure that some other podcast has done that episode,
but it's a little beyond our scope.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Oh and the pearl the pearls are genuinely gorgeous too.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah. Yes, Well, I think that's what we have to
say about hard clams for now. But listeners, again, please
write in if you have dishes that you use them in.
Are any anything that we miss please let us know.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, if you've been clamming, oh my goodness, yeah, here,
I want to hear.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
All about it.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Okay, the cravings, yes, but right, we do already have
some listener mail for you, and we are going to
get into that as soon as we get back from
one more quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
And we're back Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with Happy as a Clan. Where do we
think that came from? I don't know. Maybe you're just
happy when you're having them. Well. Uh so, we have
(30:22):
recently read an email from Kelsey about Halloween where I
expressed a concern about why her children did not want
to go to oh right, and you you picked up
on what was going on immediately, but I did not,
(30:43):
And so Kelsey has written out a follow up email. Okay, okay, yes,
Kelsey wrote, I wrote you all a Halloween email a
while back. When it was read on a recent episode,
Annie express concern regarding what I meant by no longer
being allowed to try or treat with my child. The
offspring in question is thirteen now, and they were adamant
(31:06):
I not come along. We are solidly in the place
of kiddo loving mom and dad, but also pushing away
to find their place in the world. Healthy, natural, and
unpredictable at times. Anyway, no freaky high control governing body involved,
or anything else similarly awful. Happily, they did take along
(31:30):
the violin case I painsakenly built out of cardboard, dec
tape and an old Duffel bagstrap. Costume was Mafia guy.
Violin case served as a candy receptacle and not a
hidden weaponry. There was some cajoling involved, as apparently pillowcases
(31:51):
are cooler. Somehow this kid has reached back to gin
x energy and now finds earnestness cringe worthy. The being
a parent is real weird. Yeah, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Oh yeah, oh, I I don't know how any if
y'all do that. I I struggle with cats. Yeah that's
these are these are above my pay grade kinds of issues.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yes, yes, but uh I love that you made this.
You helped make a costume piece. Yes, outfits prop and
that it was actually used and it was it was Yeah,
it was a receptacle, it was it had utility. I'm
(32:41):
always thinking about that in my costumes. Oh oh absolutely, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I mean a lot of them can't have pockets in
a normal way, so m hmmm hmm. Well, thank you,
thank you for for writing it and clarifying.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yes, thank you, all right, so no, because spiracy okay
to be horror movies.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
You got it, okay, Justine Writted. I just enjoyed your
stroop waffle episode with the perfect evening snack, a honeywaffle
exactly the same as stroop waffle, except filled with honey,
a Belgian grocery store staple, and a cup of herbal tea.
I was surprised how you described the filling because the
(33:24):
version that I know from Belgium is filled with strup
that is thick and spreadable and made from fruit juice.
It's a traditional staple food, but the types from Barlong
and Liege are the most famous. Honestly, kind of worth
an episode. I think I have pictures of the Start
Museum if you want so. I went to the Dutch
(33:44):
Wikipedia article for stroop waffles and learned that they first
were developed because Guda had a big potato processing plant
and there was syrup leftover from starch making potato syrup.
Sounds very weird until I realized that the German answer
to Belgian fruit streep is beat syrup called ruben kraut.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Ooh, intrigued.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
All all of this, all of this is rabbit holes
that I didn't know I needed thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Yes, more stoop waffle rabbit holes, I'm in I'm into it. Yeah,
Oh absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Oh my goodness, I need to more cravings, more cravings
for more different things. Great, yes, and send along the
pictures you know, oh yeah, to get.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
We'd love to get them in the meantime. Thank you
so much to both of these listeners for writing in.
If you would like to try to as you can,
our email is Hello at savorpod dot com. We're also
on social media.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
You can find us on Instagram and blue Sky at
savor pod, and we do hope to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Savor is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie
Reach and I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Learned vocal bum and today we have an episode for
you about the hard clam or cohog.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yes, was there any particular reason this was on your mind? Lauren?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Uh, we hadn't done a protein in a minute, and
especially not like a weird seafood one. Y'all know how
much we like talking about ocean about yeah, underwater life.
It's so weird and delicious, and yeah, this is one
(00:46):
that often goes into a variety of stuffing or dressing
for the holidays. And so I was like, oh, yeah,
that's a good that's a good December episode.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Sure. Yeah, have you ever had I've never had that.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I've never had that either, and now I really want it.
The cravings you guys, Oh my goodness. I do love
a clam chowder and New England style is my personal preference.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
But you do you and hoofta, Yes, I already have
some clam chowder that I am anticipating. Oh I forgot
to get some.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Oh okaylul we can rectify this.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I have the technology. Yes, I would definitely love to
hear from listeners about this. I had known that it
was part of kind of a holiday stuffing in New
England especially, but I've never had it, so I would
love to hear from listeners about this one.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Oh it sounds so good. I mean, I love a
stuffing or dressing situation in any case. Like I'm like, yeah,
I want some bread that you put some herbs in. Yeah,
and made a kind of cast role out of that's delicious.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know what. I convinced my mom to half her
stuffing recipe. Oh wow, it was. It was way too much.
Oh okay, Like we used to have a much bigger gathering, sure,
and now it's smaller. And it was just I just
told her, we need I think we should have this.
(02:20):
I don't think we need this much. And everybody's kind
of tired of it after four days. Oh wow, there's
an undue amount of stuffing. Okay, okay, fair, But I'm
I'm I feel kind of bad because I'm the one
always pairing out, Like, let's get rid of the rolls,
let's get rid of the hand, let's get rid of
the I just don't like food waste. No, that's reasonable,
(02:43):
thank you. I have to say I found a very
wonderful rabbit hole. In this episode of pun based clam names.
One of my favorites I found was aberclam Lincoln. Oh wow, okay,
aberclam Lincoln is not the type of clam we're talking
about today, but it is a type of clam. Wow,
(03:06):
I just I laughed. I was unaware. Aberclam Lincoln is
so good. That's very funny, extremely high quality. Yes, excellent,
And that was one of many that I found cool.
All Right, if we were talking about the Southern Cohogue,
I would go into the story of aberclam Lincoln, but
(03:28):
we are not, not today. But I'm sorry now, heck
well later, just have that as a teaser in You're Caring, gotcha? Yes,
so past episodes, I would say oysters, blue muscles, chowders, lobster, scallops. Yeah,
I love that scallop episode.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Oh goat, y'all go look up pictures of scallops again.
Even if you did it the first time.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Do it again. You're so weird. It's a gift. It's
a gift. But I guess this brings us to our question. Sure,
hard clams, what are they? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Hard clams, also called the Northern cohog, are a type
of hard shelled clams so appropriately named I guess, which
means that it's a squishy little blob that grows itself
a hinged pair of half shells in which to live,
In this case in coastal saltwater areas, we harvest them
whole in their shells, which are a convenient package, and
(04:36):
then eat the squishy blob in various ways. It'll have
a tender, slippy texture that will firm up and can
become sort of chewy as it cooks, and a sweet, briny, savory,
rich kind of flavor. They might be sold fresh or frozen,
whole or shelled. They might be preserved via canning. With
(04:57):
whole fresh clams, you can pry open the shell and
eat them raw, perhaps dressed simply with a bit of
lemon juice or vinegar or hot sauce. But often, and
depending on their size, they're steamed for just a few
minutes in their shells, which then open fairly easily, and
the meat or the whole clam in the shell will
be added to dishes like soups or stews or sauces
(05:19):
to be paired with starches like pasta or bread or rice.
And yeah, they're just really lovely. They're just just a
hearty little bite of the ocean.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
The texture's really good. I really like when you get
it right.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, bad texture, just tender with like a little bit
of chew to it. I've never had them raw, and
now I really want to try that.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, more cravings for things I haven't even had.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The northern cohog or hard clam species name Mercenaria mercenaria. Yeah,
they go. Buy a bunch of other names as well,
like the round clam or the ches clam, or specific
names based on their harvest size. More on that later.
They are bivalve molluscs bivalve meaning two shells, and mollusc
being a phylum of soft bodied animals that tend to
(06:11):
be mostly muscle, which is fun for us because muscle
is generally the type of meat that we're most interested
in eating. Hard clams are from the eastern Atlantic shore
of North America and can live anywhere from like Nova
Scotia to Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico, though
they are most common from around like Cape cod to
New Jersey, and they have been introduced to other places.
(06:34):
There's also a couple other species in Mercenaria that overlap
with hard clams territory, and they can interbreed, but that's
not super relevant today, aside from aberclam Lincoln. Yeah, yes, yeah,
very important, very very very relevant always. These clams live
in the intertidal and subtidle areas. That is, like shallows
(06:57):
that are mostly to always covered in water. They'll burrow
into the sand or mud and eat by filtering phytoplankton
like microscopic plants and bits of dead stuff out of
the water. Their shells are hard and thick, gray to
cream to white in color, with two more or less
equally sized halves. Each half is shaped sort of like
(07:19):
a jaunty little elf cap, with like a bent rounded
point at the hinge that will expand out to a
broad half circle at the opening. The shells are banded
on the outside with slightly ridged growth rings, and are
smooth on the inside with white and violet coloration in there.
They'll keep adding rings to the outer lip of their
(07:42):
shells as they age. The youngest and smallest size for
harvest are, depending on local laws, at least an inch
across at their widest point, but they can grow to
five inches or more hypothetically, and they can live for
over forty years. They'll be about as tall at their
tallest point near the hinge as they are wide at
(08:04):
their widest point, which is across the diameter of that
half circle at the opening.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Inside that shell, they have a pair of muscles that
hold the shell shut or or can relax to open it,
and a pair of siphons to draw in and expel
water and stuff that The inward siphon has little sensory
tentacles that help it find food. I love a good tentacle.
They also have a foot muscle that they'll use to
burrow down into the sander mud that they stay fairly
(08:33):
stationary once they've reached adulthood. The clam's body is surrounded
by a sort of goopy mantle, which is what secretes
the material of the shell, and their life cycle goes
like this, okay. During the warmer months of the spring
to fall, male and female clams will each broadcast spawn,
meaning they release their sex cells out into the water.
(08:56):
A female hard clam will produce some one to five
million eggs during a single spawning up to like forty
million a year, which sounds like a lot, but a
lot of them won't fertilize or survive if they do fertilize.
So yeah, the cells travel in water currents and if
they do meet up, they will fertilize, creating tiny larvae
that develop a sort of proto shell. Those will swim around,
(09:20):
eating whatever even tinier stuff they find in the water column,
and when they grow enough, they'll develop their foot, lose
their ability to swim around, and develop their water siphons,
at which point they will sync to the seafloor and
burrow in and attach themselves to the substrate while they
develop their calcified shell, after which they'll be heavy enough
to stay put on their own again. They're mostly stationary,
(09:42):
but they can budge around a bit if they want to,
seeking you know, food or personal space. They can also
rarely develop pearls as they grow when some irritant gets
stuck in their shell and they coat it over shell lining,
and those pearls can be white to like this really
pretty deep purple in color. Most hard clams begin life
(10:05):
as a male, but will change to being female as
they get older and or due to population demands, but
can also revert back or can exist as hermaphrodites. It
takes one to four years for them to grow to
the smallest harvest size, before which they're called seed. They're
really widely farmed but also wild harvested, mostly recreationally in
(10:28):
like smaller amounts, because you basically just have to like
wade around until you find them, usually with your feet,
and then you.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Just pick them up. Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
There are a bunch of fishing industry names for these
guys based on the size of the clam at harvest,
and there's no like hard and fast rules here. Classifications
can vary, but generally speaking, from smallest to largest, you've
got count necks, little necks, top necks, cherry stones, and
then showder clams or cohogs. As they get older and larger,
(11:04):
they also get firmer in texture and stronger in flavor.
The younger, smaller ones are more tender and more likely
to be served raw or maybe gently steamed and or
added to dishes at the end of cooking. The older
and larger ones tend to benefit from a longer cook
time to tenderize them, and thus often go into baked
or simmered dishes. Also, the brine inside of the shells,
(11:29):
or the brine that they're packed with, in the case
of canned clams, is super flavorful and can be used
in sauces, broths, you know, whatever you like, Especially when
they're farmed. Hard clams are considered a good sustainable seafood choice.
You know, as they're growing, they help the environment by
filtering the water they're farming. Equipment like trays or mesh
(11:49):
bags that are secured to the ocean floor can be
incorporated into the environment without really displacing or disrupting much
other marine life. They're also available year round. A couple
very popular New England to mid Atlantic dishes include clam chowder,
which comes in varieties of tomato based red or Manhattan style, creamy,
root based white or New England style, and broth based
(12:13):
clear or Rhode Island style. You can see our chowder
episode for more on all of those, and then stuffed
baked clams, which involve taking raw or lightly steamed clam meat,
chopping it up and adding it to a nice moist
mixture of breadcrumbs and seasonings. You know you've got like wine, briny, clam, liquid, herbs, cheese,
(12:33):
aromatic sausage. I don't know and then spooning that back
into the clam half shells and baking until golden brown.
This is sometimes called stuffies, I think in Rhode Island specifically,
and also from Rhode Island, a specific variation that incorporates
ingredients like bacon bits and bell peppers is called clams Casino.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I always wondered what clams casino is, so thank you. Yeah,
it's the butt of a joke that I, oh, I remember.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So I kept reading that word and I was like,
is there a casino called clams casino? Is it a
casino for clams? And then my brain just went to
a lot of different Yeah, yeah, is this a SpongeBob thing?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I'm not sure. Yeah, it could be very well, could be.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
All right, Well, hard clams are also great as an
ingredient in pastas or like saucy rice dishes like payea
or risotto, or steamed hole with a broth of like
wine or beer, plus butter and some clam juice, you know,
to be picked out of their shells and the broth
spooned up or sopped up with bread. You can chop
(13:42):
them up and add them to fritters or to holiday stuffing.
Slash dressing or to like a savory pie filling, typically
with a creamy sort of gravy, and maybe potatoes like
a bit like a thick white clam chowder in a crust. Yeah,
we should probably do a whole episode on clam bakes
at some point point. Clam bake is a festive and
(14:03):
or community method of slow steaming hard clams, along with
other shellfish vegetables like potatoes, corn on the cob, and
maybe some aliums, especially at the beach. More notes on
that in the history section. But yeah, also, I will
say that if you're looking to cook with fresh clams
and you don't have experience doing that, there is a
lot of good advice out there about it. Generally speaking,
(14:25):
you want to scrub them down and soak them in
salted water for a little while before cooking them to
kind of get the grid out, and then you want
to discard any clams that either won't close before cooking
or won't open after cooking, which indicates a clam that
was not at the height of its health.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, speaking of what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You know, by themselves, they are a great source of
protein and good fats. Once you've cooked them. It depends
on how much butter you've used, and you're like ratio
of clams to breadcrumbs or pasta or whatever. There are
a few types of bacteria that live in oceans that
can be present in clams and other filter feeding shellfish,
(15:12):
but farms and public health officials do monitor for them,
and you can always cook your seafood to safe temperature
if you're concerned about that. There are also some types
of algae that produce toxins that are fine for the
clams but will make us sick if we eat those clams,
but environmental programs do watch out for those, so it's
you're pretty safe.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Okay, got it. We do have some numbers for you.
We do.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
As of twenty nineteen, US hard clam production from farms
from farms alone was about ten point seven million pounds,
which is about four point nine million kilos worth about
one hundred and twenty two million dollars. Wow, big big
plam industry. Yeah. Adult hard clans can filter about two
(16:02):
gallons of water an hour. It's about eight liters of
water an hour. Yep, yep, uh huh. And the town
of East Hampton, New York, holds a largest clam contest
every like late September early October. How it goes is this,
(16:23):
during a week long window, entrance who must have a
local shellfish license, may dig for clams and submit one
for a one dollar entry fee. This contest has been
running since nineteen ninety and thus was in its thirty
fifth year this year. The clam winners are literally crowned
and placed on a tiny throne. And I couldn't find
(16:48):
like exact sizes or waits for winning clams of the past,
but the photos are like they're like adult hand sized,
so like so like easily five plus inches Like yeah, okay, yeah.
They do also hold a clam chowder contest on the
day of judging with categories or measuring. I guess it's
(17:10):
not really judging with categories for red and white plus
you know, like the normal festival stuff live music, clam
pie tastings, barbecue, you know. Yeah, speaking of festivals, I
did see a couple clam festivals that exist, but I
couldn't ascertain exactly what kinds of clams were involved, so
I didn't want to like misrepresent the clam festivals.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, I did run into that doing this research again.
Aberclam Lincoln yeah, like, this is not the clam we're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, that's the Southern cohug. That's a different that's a
different species. Also, what's called the Ocean cohug is a
different genus entirely. There was some clam confusion, I've got to.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Say, a lot of clam confusion, and to be honest,
there continues to be some.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
There does, there does, and we are going to get
into that in the history section, which we're going to
get into as soon as we get back from a
quick break. For a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, so Yes,
clams are old. Okay, I feel defensive at the front
of this, Okay, I'll try to dial it back. Fossil
evidence dates clams back to up to three million years ago.
(18:47):
The hard clam itself is native to the East coast
of North America. Oh gosh, some of these episodes get
so overwhelming when you're trying to put it into simple
forty minute overview and a perspective that is followable, but
exactly exactly. Humans with access to clams have been eating
(19:13):
them for thousands and thousands of years. For example, First
Nations peoples and what is now Canada. We're cultivating clam
gardens over five five hundred years ago. These gardens were
well cared for and prosperous, largely due to the responsible
harvesting by the First Nations people and indigenous peoples in
(19:35):
the Americas in general have been harvesting and eating clams
for thousands of years. They prepared them in a whole
host of ways, including smoking or drying them, and they
were added into a bunch of dishes. For instance, indigenous
peoples in the New England area are likely the ones
(19:55):
who conducted the first clam bakes by digging a hole,
filling the bottom with seaweed, followed by a layer of
fresh clams, another layer of seaweed, and lastly some wood
for the fire. They would often stew the clams as well,
along with beans, corn, and sometimes other meats, which some
(20:16):
dub as the first clam chowders. We're a food show,
but this could be a whole thing. I oh absolutely,
oh my gosh. But the shells were used to make beads,
tools of all kinds, jewelry, to tell stories on garments,
(20:38):
and after the arrival of Europeans, as an item to
barter with yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Their eventual species name Mercenaria is a reference to their
value in trading.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yes, and archaeological evidence suggests that the shells were being
used by indigenous peoples over four thousand years ago. Some
indigenous folks would bear or their loved ones with these
shales as far back as fourteen hundred BCE, so they
were really really important.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, and they are beautiful on the inside. If you've
never seen the inside of a hard clamshell, that's your
second photo photo assignment of the day.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Yes, go check. I should give out homework at the Alps.
We should. When European colonizers arrived in New England, they
anglicized the nar Againsett word for the clams to cohog. Later,
in seventeen fifty eight, Carlinaeus coined the species name. According
(21:37):
to some sources, colonists in the area only ate clams
as a last resort in the early days of colonization,
or they assaulted them to sell to fishermen as bait
or use them as food for their pigs. For them,
it was associated with the impoverished and association they did
not want so did not want to eat them. Over time,
(21:58):
that did change, especially with the help of refrigeration, transportation, railways,
and for some leisure time. We talked about this in
past episodes, especially lobster I think is really relevant for
this one. But the clams went from being something that
was associated with the poor to something associated with luxury
(22:18):
and leisure. Yeah, yeah, oysters as well, Yeah yes, yes,
Indigenous preparations like chowder and clam bakes were adopted. Previously,
many people outside of the East Coast in the US
couldn't get these clams, but with the advent of rail travel,
they were having them on trains, or taking trains to
New England to have them in restaurants, or digging them
(22:40):
up themselves while visiting beaches in New England, and clams
may have been used as a substitute for fish or
other seafood if the chef was out or at the
guest requests. You could basically kind of find them yourselves,
bring them into a restaurant and be like put them
in a dish deemed fried or in a chowder. Clams
(23:02):
showed up more and more on New England menus up
until the early nineteen hundreds. Clams were harvested by waiting
in shallow waters and feeling for them with your feet
or with a rake affixed with a bucket on the end.
So it was kind of a It was painted as
something that could be a very almost tourist activity. Yeah,
(23:26):
go out and do it. Yeah. Yeah. There were a
few attempts to establish hard clam populations in England and
France from the mid eighteen hundreds to the mid nineteen hundreds.
A few of them were successful for many years before
dying off. There's been a lot of studies on this
and most of them kind of were like it lasted
for a little bit. But speaking of in nineteen oh one,
(23:51):
dead shells of hard clams were found off America's West coast.
Over the decades, a few live ones were reported over there,
but nothing substantial. By nineteen oh nine, researchers were writing
about their concerns of the depletion of the clan population
in New England. A report by one doctor David Belding
(24:12):
included this quote, all hopes for themorrow are sacrificed to
the clamorous demands of the present, And I just the clamorous,
clamorous demands of the present is a a beautiful turn
of phrase, and be the best pun i've read this week.
(24:33):
I agree. I love it so much that it's excellent.
I almost couldn't believe it when I read it, Like,
oh yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Was reading through your notes and I was like, oh no,
I like I stopped, and I like, I like clutched
my pearls and I cackled.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah. Doctor Belding was like, yeah, I got to put
a pun in here. That's soft. Despite all of this worry,
clamming continued. Clamors in the fifties and sixties would trawl
for clams via boats. They would separate their catch into
sizes and silently count them, sometimes over a thousand clams
(25:18):
at a time. That didn't change until the eighties, when
clamors started using a machine that sorted the clams by size.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And if you're wondering about the silent note, because I was,
there's a there's a beautiful story written about this about
just the the intensity of the sorting. And you know,
you would have all of these workers who were sorting
all of these clans and trying to get through these
piles and piles and piles of them, and they would
they would just do it in complete silence, because apparently,
(25:46):
you know, no one no one could chat and still
keep count, and it was just a serious venture.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
So yeah, anyway, Oh, I get it. It's hard to
keep count when there's any distractions, especially numbers a large no, no, no, no.
Stepping back a bit, in the nineteen forties and fifties,
a lot of research got underway around cultivating hard clams,
eventually leading to hatchery technology. This in turn led to
(26:13):
commercial production of hard clams in the US, but at
first producers encountered a lot of issues, primarily that predators
would consume the seed.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, yeah, they would be like, I think especially crabs
they had a problem with, but yeah, they would be like, oh,
you just put all of this delicious stuff in this
one place for me, thank you. There was also an
issue with providing feed for the newly spawned hard clams.
You know, like if you have them in a protected
or artificial environment like a pond or something, you have
(26:43):
to provide algae that's small enough for the spawn to eat,
and ideally that algae shouldn't cost you more than you're
going to make from selling the developed clams. So it
was another thing that they were working on.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yes, and only a limited number of clams survived long
enough to be sold. To combat the predator problem, specific
clam plantings with protections in place got underway in the
nineteen seventies. Research collected from these efforts led to improved
protection and hatchery techniques. Thanks to this, the production of
(27:18):
hard clams via aquaculture along the North American East Coast proliferated.
Research into the hard clam in Virginia during the nineteen
sixties and seventies led to the US's largest hard clam industry.
Around the same time, there were purposeful efforts to install
(27:39):
hard clam populations off the coast of California and Hawaii.
Most eventually failed, but one off of Long Beach, California,
lasted for a couple of decades before collapsing, which is
kind of the story. As I said, in nineteen eighty seven,
Rhode Island named the cohog as the state shell.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Oh. I knew that there was something like that, but
I couldn't track it down, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Yes, And speaking of the shell, recently, scientists have been
using the shells to study the ocean and climate change.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, because of those growth rings, sort of like you
can look at the rings of a tree and kind
of figure out what the weather patterns were based on
how vigorously the tree grew in different years. Yeah, you
can study shells in the same way and or similar way,
and yeah, it's super cool.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It is. I highly recommend reading about it because it
was one of those things where it just was like, oh,
I've got to think about this on a deeper level. Okay,
just the way they were writing about it, about how
the ocean shows climate change in different ways and how
it's changed. Yeah, and how these shells demonstrate it. It's cool. Again,
(28:57):
we're a food podcast. The shells are amazing and they
have a huge history. So yeah, I'll look that up
if you're interested.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, I'm sure that some other podcast has done that episode,
but it's a little beyond our scope.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Oh and the pearl the pearls are genuinely gorgeous too.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah. Yes, Well, I think that's what we have to
say about hard clams for now. But listeners, again, please
write in if you have dishes that you use them in.
Are any anything that we miss please let us know.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, if you've been clamming, oh my goodness, yeah, here,
I want to hear.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
All about it.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Okay, the cravings, yes, but right, we do already have
some listener mail for you, and we are going to
get into that as soon as we get back from
one more quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
And we're back Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with Happy as a Clan. Where do we
think that came from? I don't know. Maybe you're just
happy when you're having them. Well. Uh so, we have
(30:22):
recently read an email from Kelsey about Halloween where I
expressed a concern about why her children did not want
to go to oh right, and you you picked up
on what was going on immediately, but I did not,
(30:43):
And so Kelsey has written out a follow up email. Okay, okay, yes,
Kelsey wrote, I wrote you all a Halloween email a
while back. When it was read on a recent episode,
Annie express concern regarding what I meant by no longer
being allowed to try or treat with my child. The
offspring in question is thirteen now, and they were adamant
(31:06):
I not come along. We are solidly in the place
of kiddo loving mom and dad, but also pushing away
to find their place in the world. Healthy, natural, and
unpredictable at times. Anyway, no freaky high control governing body involved,
or anything else similarly awful. Happily, they did take along
(31:30):
the violin case I painsakenly built out of cardboard, dec
tape and an old Duffel bagstrap. Costume was Mafia guy.
Violin case served as a candy receptacle and not a
hidden weaponry. There was some cajoling involved, as apparently pillowcases
(31:51):
are cooler. Somehow this kid has reached back to gin
x energy and now finds earnestness cringe worthy. The being
a parent is real weird. Yeah, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Oh yeah, oh, I I don't know how any if
y'all do that. I I struggle with cats. Yeah that's
these are these are above my pay grade kinds of issues.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yes, yes, but uh I love that you made this.
You helped make a costume piece. Yes, outfits prop and
that it was actually used and it was it was Yeah,
it was a receptacle, it was it had utility. I'm
(32:41):
always thinking about that in my costumes. Oh oh absolutely, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I mean a lot of them can't have pockets in
a normal way, so m hmmm hmm. Well, thank you,
thank you for for writing it and clarifying.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yes, thank you, all right, so no, because spiracy okay
to be horror movies.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
You got it, okay, Justine Writted. I just enjoyed your
stroop waffle episode with the perfect evening snack, a honeywaffle
exactly the same as stroop waffle, except filled with honey,
a Belgian grocery store staple, and a cup of herbal tea.
I was surprised how you described the filling because the
(33:24):
version that I know from Belgium is filled with strup
that is thick and spreadable and made from fruit juice.
It's a traditional staple food, but the types from Barlong
and Liege are the most famous. Honestly, kind of worth
an episode. I think I have pictures of the Start
Museum if you want so. I went to the Dutch
(33:44):
Wikipedia article for stroop waffles and learned that they first
were developed because Guda had a big potato processing plant
and there was syrup leftover from starch making potato syrup.
Sounds very weird until I realized that the German answer
to Belgian fruit streep is beat syrup called ruben kraut.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Ooh, intrigued.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
All all of this, all of this is rabbit holes
that I didn't know I needed thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Yes, more stoop waffle rabbit holes, I'm in I'm into it. Yeah,
Oh absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Oh my goodness, I need to more cravings, more cravings
for more different things. Great, yes, and send along the
pictures you know, oh yeah, to get.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
We'd love to get them in the meantime. Thank you
so much to both of these listeners for writing in.
If you would like to try to as you can,
our email is Hello at savorpod dot com. We're also
on social media.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
You can find us on Instagram and blue Sky at
savor pod, and we do hope to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Savor is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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