Anyone familiar with Purple Varnish (aka Savory) Clams?

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CatyMae n Steve

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We harvested some and have some questions -- they're in cold water with some cornmeal to feed and flush, but they aren't coming out to feed! We gonna die if we eat em?
 
CatyMae n Steve":1qa7c6ba said:
We harvested some and have some questions -- they're in cold water with some cornmeal to feed and flush, but they aren't coming out to feed! We gonna die if we eat em?
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You're a goner.........

I don't know a lick about no Purple Varnish clams, but I am pretty sure if I got stuck in a bucket of cold water I wouldn't be hungry either!
 
prob'ly not after you tried to devour those fish pictures! ;)

I have them in the kitchen "warming" from the fridge chill. Watching to see if they come out to play or not
 
Are these the fresh water clams found in the Columbia? If so, the word from some compadres who tried them: yuck!

Scaups eat them in quantity ... the reason some folks do not like to eat scaups (aka bluebills).
 
AstoriaDave":35wbgo68 said:
Are these the fresh water clams found in the Columbia? If so, the word from some compadres who tried them: yuck!

Scaups eat them in quantity ... the reason some folks do not like to eat scaups (aka bluebills).
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Got these at Taft. P5290031.sized.jpg
I don't know what a scaup is, nor bluebills -- we ate some a few weeks ago (that came out and ate the cornmeal) -- I fixed them in a white sauce over pasta and they were great! No yuck here! Steve's been bugging me to go get some more...

Anyhow, what I've found researching is they are called purple varnish because the thin layer peels off the shells like varnish peeling. The thought was that wouldn't be very appetizing marketing them, so they are also called Savory Clams.
 
CatyMae n Steve":118k061t said:
We gonna die if we eat em?
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Let us know if you do. :mrgreen:
 
oldgrowth":lx84dws0 said:
CatyMae n Steve":lx84dws0 said:
We gonna die if we eat em?
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Let us know if you do. :mrgreen:
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....writing you into my will :rose2
:xnaughty :xtongue :xnaughty
 
Here is a link to a WDFW site on these clams: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/ans/varnishclam ... umanhealth

Sounds like minimal concern for human health problems. New beans to me. Definitely not the clams I have seen in the Columbia.

BTW, scaups are diving ducks, very common in the lower river. Aka bluebills for the color on their bills. They are down here in the winter, and left a couple weeks ago.
 
The largest live N. obscurata reported locally to date was 68mm (a little over 2.5 inches) total length and weighed 45.1 grams
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From the article referenced by AstiriaDave.

CatyMae n Steve Looking at your photos you may have a record there. Did you by chance weigh that sucker. We need to know if it is a record, also get out the ruler and let us know how long it is. :shock:
 
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