Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

[scooper77515]

The water is about a foot low so we have lots of beach. We were hanging out and walking the beach and started to find these clams, sorta "walking" on the sand in shallow water, with their lips down, and tongues in the sand. They were leaving a trail, so you could tell they were making their way around the sand looking for food.

Anyway, these critters were about as big as my fist.

Are they edible, and safe, and most important, can you make them taste good?

 

[dwco5051]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

They are probably good to eat but it might be an expensive meal

Many freshwater mollusks are on the endangered or threatened list.

I would not harvest them unless I could positively identify them.






www.texashuntfish.com/app/view/Post...water-Mussels-Placed-on-State-Threatened-List

 

[scooper77515]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

Only expensive if illegal, and we get caught!

I don't like to kill animals, any of them. So I would have to be convinced that they are REALLY good, like crawfish or lobster, before I could kill them and eat them.

 

[Bigperch]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

We used to catch fresh water clams in KS and eat them. The parents would send us kids in with a sock between the teeth to swim along feeling the bottom. Being muddy water, some would pull themselves down but most could be grabbed up and stuffed into the sock as you swam along feeling your way. Stay down as long as you could holding your breath and come up with as many as the sock could hold.

We just boiled 'em and ate 'em, dig out of the shells with a fork. Some folks liked hot sauce and others preferred horse radish. Some ate them with nothing at all. I like 'em with salt and pepper. Heavy on the pepper.

Don't get me started talkin' bout mud bugs.

It's good eats, man!
What's wrong with killing critters? At least we kill our own rather than hire it done. What stocks the Grocer's shelves don't grow on trees, ya know...

 

[scooper77515]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

So you guys call clams "mud bugs"? We call crawfish "mud bugs" down here in Texas and Louisiana.

 

[sasto]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

In Central Florida, freshwater clams are just starting to be farmed due to the pearl content. They produce some of the best. More so than the saltwater species. Not really good to eat due to contamination, taste like rubber to me.

On a side note, while hunting freshwater clams we would hunt shark teeth at the same time. I have found more shark teeth in freshwater lakes in
Florida than the beach.

 

[veritas honus]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

The water is about a foot low so we have lots of beach. We were hanging out and walking the beach and started to find these clams, sorta "walking" on the sand in shallow water, with their lips down, and tongues in the sand. They were leaving a trail, so you could tell they were making their way around the sand looking for food.

Anyway, these critters were about as big as my fist.

Are they edible, and safe, and most important, can you make them taste good?

Don't know how clean and safe the water is... If it is clean and safe; and you don't get sick from swallowing a little water while swimming...

2 parts butter
1 part extra virgin olive oil
3, 4, 5, or six cloves of fresh garlic crushed with a fork
oregano, basil, parsely, cilantro, coriander
Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 1 lime
1 bottle of your favorite beer
Melt the butter and add the olive oil. Saute the garlic for about a minute or two, just to soften it a little. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a gentle boil. Add the live clams and cover the pot.
Thank the Good Lord for his generosity, and the clams for their sacrifice.
When the last clam shell opens a little, their done... Enjoy!!! Wish I could join ya!!!

 

[Bigperch]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

So you guys call clams "mud bugs"? We call crawfish "mud bugs" down here in Texas and Louisiana.

Not at all, Sir.

I just spoke of boiling the clams. Crawfish were mentioned above and I said don't get me started on those

They're good eats, too. But some folks are really disgusted by the thought of it for some reason. Cats love them, dogs love them, fish love them, but some people... not so much.

Veritas Honus, your recipe sounds superb!

 

[scooper77515]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

Veritas Honus, your recipe sounds superb!

I second that!!!

This lake is actually the drinking water source for the city of Houston. I swallow water all the time with no ill effects. A little muddy, but nothing to cause illness.

Those clams have better watch out next time I am out there.

But seriuosly, these guys are so big, 2 would be a MEAL for an adult. Probably close to a pound a piece!

 

[scooper77515]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

I found this list of local freshwater clams, but I have no idea which ones I am looking at. None of these appear to be as big as what we are finding...

http://www.dan-johnson.net/bivalves/houston_bivalves.html

 

[BUDDY123]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

Would check with your local game or fish commission.

 

[mommicked]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

I believe all clams and oysters or mollusks are filter feeders so they absorb whats in the water they live in.If its almost unpolluted water???,and theyre cooked, and you like the taste, and you dont get violently ill afterward!!and they arent protected, chow down. but remember they do filter the water and help w controlling our waste and pollution.I.E. dont eat them all!!!!the water will get dirtyer!I like salt water clams and oysters alot more than the inland ones Ive tried.

 

[veritas honus]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

I second that!!!

This lake is actually the drinking water source for the city of Houston. I swallow water all the time with no ill effects. A little muddy, but nothing to cause illness.

Those clams have better watch out next time I am out there.

But seriuosly, these guys are so big, 2 would be a MEAL for an adult. Probably close to a pound a piece!

Drinking water source?!?... What da heck'er ya waitin' fer, MAN???
...So what's your favorite beer? Have you ever cooked with beer? I love the more "hoppy" beers. Dundee makes a variety twelve pack with four different types. The one with the green label is really, Really full of hops; it's awesome for cooking... For drinking, too, of course. Any of the "Pale Ale" are very hoppy and great to cook with. If you like Darks and stouts, Guiness is the one. New Castle Brown Ale is great to drink and cook with... I could go on and on. Please, let me know how this turns out. If I may live vicariously through you for just this one meal, I'll be really happy!!!

Safe and happy boating always!!!

 

[veritas honus]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

I second that!!!

This lake is actually the drinking water source for the city of Houston. I swallow water all the time with no ill effects. A little muddy, but nothing to cause illness.

Those clams have better watch out next time I am out there.

But seriuosly, these guys are so big, 2 would be a MEAL for an adult. Probably close to a pound a piece!

Not at all, Sir.

I just spoke of boiling the clams. Crawfish were mentioned above and I said don't get me started on those

They're good eats, too. But some folks are really disgusted by the thought of it for some reason. Cats love them, dogs love them, fish love them, but some people... not so much.

Veritas Honus, your recipe sounds superb!

Wait till ya taste it!!!!!!!!!... As a personal rule, I generally don't use recipes. I use whatever comes to mind and mood at the time I'm cooking (or about to). This is just one of those combos I came up with one of the times I was collecting and eating mussels. It turned out so good that it just stuck with me. I've used this combo (can't call it a recipe... I'd be breaking my own rule... Can't do that; just doesn't seem right) many times since then for all shell fish including lobster. I didn't add quantities with all of the items I listed because that depends upon your taste and mood when your cooking... Enjoy!!! let me know if you ever use it...

Safe and happy boating always!!!

 

[scooper77515]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

I have had mussels cooked in beer. VERY good! Some joint up on the sound on one of the islands in Washington.

 

[Av8nBill]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

I have had mussels cooked in beer. VERY good! Some joint up on the sound on one of the islands in Washington.

Sounds like Toby's Tavern in Coupeville, WA. http://www.tobysuds.com/

I lived in a cabin about 2 miles down the road from there for a couple years. They get 'em off the rafts in Penn Cove, you can't get any fresher unless you pick 'em yourself. I just ate a couple of pounds there in October while visiting the folks. That's some good eats washed down with Toby's Red Parrot Ale. The originals are so good, I couldn't bring myself to try the new spicy ones yet.

 

[veritas honus]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

I have had mussels cooked in beer. VERY good! Some joint up on the sound on one of the islands in Washington.

I used to spend a lot of time on Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, and Coney Island Beaches in Brooklyn, New York, where I grew up. The jetties are covered with large black mussells. My mother had told me that the water may not be clean enough for the mussells to be edible. When I was a teenager, I got to know an old man from Puerto Rico who would come to the beach every morning with a 40 oz. bottle of Budweiser, walk/climb out to the end of a jetty, and sit down with his bottle of Bud. He would pick mussells off the rocks, open them with a pocket knife, and eat the mussells one after another until the Budweiser was gone. This was his breakfast every day!!!
He told me that he never got sick from them. I used to get to the beach before 0500hrs. I was a Lifeguard for a couple of years. This man arrived at 0530hrs every day and stayed until almost 0630hrs. Those mussells turned out to be the second best mussells I've ever eaten!!! The best were the brown mussells I used to collect in Assattigue bay in west Ocean City Maryland, which is where I came up with the "Recipe" I gave you.
Again... Enjoy!!!

 

[scooper77515]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

Yup! Toby's. We even brought home a hoodie sweatshirt from there. Wife was wearing it yesterday!

I looked at the menu but don't see the beer boiled mussels. But we got a big ole bowl full of them, almost couldn't finish them off. Boiled in a Bock-ish beer, if I recall correctly.

We started in Seattle, and drove up Whidby Island on the way to Orcas Island. Took the longer scenic route. Stopped at a couple of vinyards, got a GREAT room on the water at Orcas, then went to Rainier for a couple of days up in a little cabin in the mountains. Still lots of snow in the mountains, but we brought with us from Texas that week of nice clear warm weather in March. I remember they were letting kids OUT of school so that they could enjoy the weather!

As for getting them off the beach, my parents lived in California and would go to Redondo and surrounding beaches and peel mussels off the rocks and take them home to boil all the time. This was early 70s, I wouldn't do it now...

 

[sasto]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

Hey Scooper, I'm curious about the clams. Have you tried any? Find out what type they are?.....Thanks.

 

[scooper77515]

Re: Found a bunch of BIG freshwater clams, Lake Houston, Texas. Edible?

Haven't tried them. only see them when the water is low, and now that it is winter, we don't go out as often.

If I ever get out there and see them again, I will take a couple pictures and/or pull them up on my cell phone internet and try to identify them.