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C50 bk lowes 400.4

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THE CLAMS (9 Ze

Butter, little necks, mya, horse, cockles. Equipment needed: Tide book, lan- 6
tern (in winter months), forks, buckets, sack, strong back. A

Select a low tide from the tide book 3.5 or under and prospect by juga a few
fork fulls here and there in the lower half of the beach until a concentration of
clams is found. Squirts of water at intervals from the beach often reveal the pres-
ence of clams. It is sometimes quite a chore to carry your clams back to your
transportation, especially on a gently shelving beach where the tide runs out a
considerable distance. Don’t dig more clams than you can carry.

Butter Clam

This medium-sized clam is widely distributed over the whole coast and may
live in many types of beach, although it occurs mostly on beaches composed of a
mixture of sand and gravel. There is no need to dig deeper than the prongs of
your fork. .

The butter clam may be easily recognized by its white shell, sometimes with
some black markings, and the strong concentric lines around the shell radiating
out from the hinge area. Butter clams may reach a size of 5 inches. It is illegal
to take butter clams measuring less than 2’ inches across the greatest width of
the shell.

When you get your butter clams home, give them a good scrub with running
water and steam them open by placing them in a large kettle of water in which
one-half inch of water is first placed, cover and steam until clams open. Do not
throw the liquid away—this is “ clam nectar”; strain it through cheesecloth and
use it in various recipes.