Q is For...

Quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria)

Alternate common names: Hard-shell Clam, Cherrystone, Littleneck

Quahog is one of those words that were as familiar to me from earliest childhood as Mommy, Daddy, and doggie… yet a surprising number of people have never heard it. So for today’s Q word, I’m doing my part to rectify that. (With a little help from this environmental data center.)

Quahogs are shellfish found all along the east coast from Canada to Florida, altho’ they are most abundant in muddy estuaries between Cape Cod and New Jersey. 

The name is commonly held to be derived from the Indian name “poquauhock” - meaning horse fish. Native Americans used long beads made from the purple inner shell of this clam as money, so giving the mollusk a Latin name that meant wages seemed like a good idea to some 18th century botanist. (Delightful factoid of the post: At one time, before King Philip’s War, you could pay your tuition at Harvard University with wampum - about 1,900 beads per year.)

The environmental data center makes a point of noting that quahogs do not stay put in one point for life… which anyone who’s ever been whacked in the ankle by one that’s fleeing disturbance can attest to. Those suckers move FAST for something that looks like nothing so much as an algae-covered rock! 

They have reason to flee, however. Quahogs are a very popular seafood.

They are the main ingredient in clam chowder (spurious recipe here) and in fritters (mouth-watering photo here)  - which are my two favorite ways to eat them, but there are plenty of ways to enjoy quahogs - steamed, fried, scalloped, raw, in stuffies, in dip, in pasta sauces, really, anywhere a minced meat might go…

The only thing you shouldn’t do with quahogs is to try and figure out the correct pronunciation. 

No one agrees. There’s cah-hog, coh-hog, coh-hawg, qwah-hog…

Really, I shouldn’t be surprised most people gave up and just say “clam”!