Being from Colorado, I had never heard of quahogging (pronounced ko-hog-ing), however New England has yet again opened my eyes to something new! Quahogs are clams typically found between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Quahogging is the act of searching for clams by hands, feet, and tools in sand and mud during low tide. In my quest to be the “Ultimate Clam Digger”, I used a rake, teeth face down and dragged it along the bottom of the sand until I hit what I thought to be a clam, and quickly flipped the rake in a motion that would unearth the quahog. Turns out I’m really just the “Queen of the Rocks & Seaweed!” However, in my defense, I did brave the iced-cold water for a couple hours and was able to find 5 clams! I was pretty proud!
One thing to be aware about when quahogging is the rules and regulations (especially since they vary by jurisdiction). In Mattapoisett, MA, where I went, you must have one license per basket, and you can only harvest one basket per week. Uniformly across jurisdictions, the clams you catch are required to be a minimum of 2 inches in length! So we had a metal square measurer: If the clams fit through it, we tossed ‘em back!
So the reason that I mention the rules.....well we had a little encounter with the ranger! I went with Jeff and his brother, Jon, however we grabbed the licenses of Jon’s father-in-law and brother-in-law. Unfortunately Jon and Jeff cannot pull off the whole father-son thing. Once we got wind that the ranger was coming (thanks to the bell ringing of everyone back at the house), we consolidated our clams from the 2 baskets into one! When we got out of the water, the ranger still gave us a hard time, and said we couldn’t have two baskets with only one license! Luckily, with lots of apologies, we avoided the $50 fine that we each would have received! What a memorable first time!
So what do you do with the clams you catch? That’s easy, you eat them! Check out the recipes below (Wherever it says to use canned claims, look at “How to Cook Clams” first and use the ones you have caught!)
So the reason that I mention the rules.....well we had a little encounter with the ranger! I went with Jeff and his brother, Jon, however we grabbed the licenses of Jon’s father-in-law and brother-in-law. Unfortunately Jon and Jeff cannot pull off the whole father-son thing. Once we got wind that the ranger was coming (thanks to the bell ringing of everyone back at the house), we consolidated our clams from the 2 baskets into one! When we got out of the water, the ranger still gave us a hard time, and said we couldn’t have two baskets with only one license! Luckily, with lots of apologies, we avoided the $50 fine that we each would have received! What a memorable first time!
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