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Cleaning Clams

6K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  bigfishaddiction 
#1 ·
I searched and see lots of recipes to do with clams once they are clean and many sound great.

Let's start at the beginning though.

What method has proven best for getting those things clean of the sand? We caught limits of varnish clams out of Lincoln City in Siletz bay. I soaked them in in salt water for 3 hours, then ice'd tap water with corn meal on top for 30 minutes.

Can't say if it made a huge difference or not, still had what seemed like a lot of sand.
 
#3 · (Edited)
We calm Netarts for steamers all the time. We grab a 5 gal bucket of Netarts Bay water and drop the clams in for 8-20 hours running a fish tank air pump, long hose and air stone into the bucket. Our clams are always sand free for lunch or dinner the next day.

Not sure if that would work with Eastern/Varnish Clams of other Bay's water. I do know generally ocean clam don't like fresh water, they probably just clam up from the chlorine and such.
 
#4 ·
This weekend was my first time clamming. Got a couple of limits of purple varnish clams. I let them soak for about 12 hours in salt water. Then put them in boiling water to get them to open. Then they went right into an ice bath. Then took them out of the shell and removed all of the black goo. Not sure if this wash the correct way to go about it but it is what google came up with.

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#6 ·
Varnish clams are about the worst for holding onto sand in my experience. Took 48 hours to purge and that meant a few times I had to filter out the water. Corn meal did not speed up the process when I tried. True steamers clean out pretty quick for me. Took about 12 hours last time.
 
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