Each summer we go to an island in Maine (Islesboro) and dig for clams and cook them up on the beach. It’s a little tricky to time the tide so it doesn’t wash the fire away while still leaving plenty of time to dig for the soft shell clams. The other tricky part is washing the clams so they’re not filled with muck. A mesh bag is handy for swishing the clams in a rising tide to clean them off.
We call it Hutch Fest – picking mussels, digging clams, and cooking corn for several years now. There are no longer intertidal mussels anymore and the clams are sparse due to the explosion of the green crab. Still a good time and tasty treat these clams are with melted butter, lemon and salt.
