On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks they
detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.

Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
want them to die obviously.


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"Tom Del Rosso" > wrote in message
...
>
> On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks
> they detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
>
> Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
> want them to die obviously.

I've heard you should feed them cornmeal.

On Apr 12, 1:29*pm, "news" > wrote:
> "Tom Del Rosso" > wrote in ...
>
>
>
> > On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks
> > they detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
>
> > Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? *You don't
> > want them to die obviously.
>
> I've heard you should feed them cornmeal.

We get clams all the time. Fresh. We take them home, put them in a
pail with cold water and cornmeal. they open up a little bit and spit
out any sand.

Tom Del Rosso wrote:
>
> On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks they
> detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
>
> Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
> want them to die obviously.


Still no answer, eh? Allow me give my thoughts then since I live by the
ocean and most times I that I want clams I dig them up myself in a nearby
bay. (about 100 feet offshore). Or the razor clams dug right onshore at low
tide. Or oysters that live "above sea ground."

It's almost scary to argue with what's his name on Good Eats but he is so
wrong. If you put any tidewater (salt) clams in fresh water, they will be
dead within an hour or so.

If you are worried about detoxing them from pollutants from the ocean?

1) Just forget about eating all ocean seafood. Skip the sea salt too.
2) If they came from a polluted bay, you can relocate them to an unpolluted
bay to flush out for several weeks.
3) I wouldn't touch a clam or oyster from a polluted bay in the first place.

4) Most advice for putting in fresh water is to flush out the rare sand
particle. If you do that, do for no more than an hour or so. After that,
they will die and you will eat sand-free rotten shellfish.

Sand in shells is a joke though. I've eaten them fresh all my life and
can't remember any time when I found sand inside. Most of the "sand" is
bits of shell from someone opening them with a knife.

Gary

On 4/12/2012 5:51 PM, Gary wrote:
> Tom Del Rosso wrote:
>>
>> On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks they
>> detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
>>
>> Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
>> want them to die obviously.
>
>
> Still no answer, eh? Allow me give my thoughts then since I live by the
> ocean and most times I that I want clams I dig them up myself in a nearby
> bay. (about 100 feet offshore). Or the razor clams dug right onshore at low
> tide. Or oysters that live "above sea ground."
>
> It's almost scary to argue with what's his name on Good Eats but he is so
> wrong. If you put any tidewater (salt) clams in fresh water, they will be
> dead within an hour or so.
>
> If you are worried about detoxing them from pollutants from the ocean?
>
> 1) Just forget about eating all ocean seafood. Skip the sea salt too.
> 2) If they came from a polluted bay, you can relocate them to an unpolluted
> bay to flush out for several weeks.
> 3) I wouldn't touch a clam or oyster from a polluted bay in the first place.
>
> 4) Most advice for putting in fresh water is to flush out the rare sand
> particle. If you do that, do for no more than an hour or so. After that,
> they will die and you will eat sand-free rotten shellfish.
>
> Sand in shells is a joke though. I've eaten them fresh all my life and
> can't remember any time when I found sand inside. Most of the "sand" is
> bits of shell from someone opening them with a knife.

Very sensible advice, Gary! And, I speak as one who had his worst
occasion of Montezuma's revenge after eating oysters that I had been
informed were frozen twice.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not" in Reply To.

news wrote:
>
> "Tom Del Rosso" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks
> > they detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
> >
> > Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
> > want them to die obviously.
>
> I've heard you should feed them cornmeal.

Yeah... that really works wonders. ;-)
In you are going to kill them in fresh water, better to put them some beer
or a mixed drink to soften the death moment.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to detox sea salt? ;0

On 4/12/2012 4:18 PM, Chemo the Clown wrote:
> On Apr 12, 1:29 pm, > wrote:
>> "Tom Del > wrote in ...
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks
>>> they detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
>>
>>> Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
>>> want them to die obviously.
>>
>> I've heard you should feed them cornmeal.
>
> We get clams all the time. Fresh. We take them home, put them in a
> pail with cold water and cornmeal. they open up a little bit and spit
> out any sand.

Cold water and cornmeal always worked for us.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

Janet Wilder wrote:
>
> On 4/12/2012 4:18 PM, Chemo the Clown wrote:
> > On Apr 12, 1:29 pm, > wrote:
> >> "Tom Del > wrote in ...
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks
> >>> they detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
> >>
> >>> Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
> >>> want them to die obviously.
> >>
> >> I've heard you should feed them cornmeal.
> >
> > We get clams all the time. Fresh. We take them home, put them in a
> > pail with cold water and cornmeal. they open up a little bit and spit
> > out any sand.
>
> Cold water and cornmeal always worked for us.

Doing nothing has always worked for me for the sand thing.
Remember though, the OP was talking about detoxing not eliminating sand.

Gary

Gary wrote:
>
> Janet Wilder wrote:
> > Cold water and cornmeal always worked for us.
>
> Doing nothing has always worked for me for the sand thing.
> Remember though, the OP was talking about detoxing not eliminating sand.

BTW... what do you cold water soak ppl think the cornmeal does anyway? They
are not feeding on it. It does nothing to a dying clam. Another suggestion
I've read is to put pepper in the cold water. Still another joke.

Most "sand" on clams and oysters is not inside. It's either on the outside
of the shell (and expecially in the crevasse where the two shell halves
meet. Or it's bit of shell from opening with a knife.

Gary

On 4/12/2012 5:44 PM, Gary wrote:
> Janet Wilder wrote:
>>
>> On 4/12/2012 4:18 PM, Chemo the Clown wrote:
>>> On Apr 12, 1:29 pm, > wrote:
>>>> "Tom Del > wrote in ...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks
>>>>> they detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
>>>>
>>>>> Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
>>>>> want them to die obviously.
>>>>
>>>> I've heard you should feed them cornmeal.
>>>
>>> We get clams all the time. Fresh. We take them home, put them in a
>>> pail with cold water and cornmeal. they open up a little bit and spit
>>> out any sand.
>>
>> Cold water and cornmeal always worked for us.
>
> Doing nothing has always worked for me for the sand thing.
> Remember though, the OP was talking about detoxing not eliminating sand.
>
> Gary

If the clams are "toxic" I wouldn't want to eat them.

Anyone have a recipe for "clams PCB"

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

Gary wrote:
>
> It's almost scary to argue with what's his name on Good Eats but he
> is so wrong. If you put any tidewater (salt) clams in fresh water,
> they will be dead within an hour or so.

It was a line voiced by one of his "characters", not AB himself. The guy
said "a few weeks" and made a reference to toxins.

They repeated the episode and I got to watch more of it. After the break AB
said some people give them a "quick dip" in fresh water with corn meal, but
it's not necessary because modern clams are clean inside, so just clean the
outside.

So AB isn't so wrong anyway.

Thanks.


--

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Chemo the Clown wrote:
>
> We get clams all the time. Fresh. We take them home, put them in a
> pail with cold water and cornmeal. they open up a little bit and spit
> out any sand.

Do you use freshwater?

Detoxing shellfish is not so easy if it's bacterial in origin. There is
a nasty bacterium called Vibrio vulnificus that can infect shellfish in
warm waters. It's related to the bacterium that causes cholera. There
was a case report out of Houston many years ago of a man who cut himself
shucking a V. vulnificus-infected oyster and developed a
life-threatening sepsis (blood infection). Fortunately, Pacific
Northwest waters are too cold for this ugly microbe, so the SO can gulp
raw oysters with impunity--provided there are no red tides.

Cindy

--
C.J. Fuller

Delete the obvious to email me

Gary wrote:
> news wrote:
>> "Tom Del Rosso" > wrote:
>
>> > On Good Eats they said if you keep clams in fresh water for a few weeks
>> > they detox themselves of polutants from the ocean.
>
>> > Don't they have to eat something over a period of a few weeks? You don't
>> > want them to die obviously.
>
>> I've heard you should feed them cornmeal.
>
> Yeah... that really works wonders. ;-)

For snails it does. Gives them time to clean out their digestive
systems but they don't starve while it's happening. I am not sure if it
works the same way with clams or if it's done out of a sense of symetry.

> In you are going to kill them in fresh water, better to put them some beer
> or a mixed drink to soften the death moment.

Beer is bad for snails. Better it go in the cook. On the other hand
white wine works fine for clams. I have had clams steamed in white wine
and they were very good.

> Anyone have any suggestions on how to detox sea salt? ;0

Give it to me. That way you won't need to have it. Problem solved. ;^)