Step 1 - Consult the tide tables and identify an appropriate low tide. The lower the low tide the better. On Monday August 1 the 14:55 low tide was 1m, an extremely low tide thanks to the new moon.
Step 2 - Apply liberal quantities of Off to deter the voracious mosquitoes and go to the beach, ideally one without rocks. The example shown in the picture below is of a very poor clam digging location.
Step 3 - Look for clams which you can spot by the protruding "usuk" (penis in Inuktitut tee hee). They are sensitive and withdraw with a squirt of water the moment they sense movement, presumably wishing to avoid being dug up and eaten. Bearing this in mind we would not recommend that other readers take their dogs with them when clam digging as their busy investigation of the beach may cause some (or nearly all) of the clams to go into hiding, leaving nothing but holes in the sand to taunt us.
Step 4 - Dig around the clam which will withdraw into the muddy rocky sand the second you disturb it. This is where the non-rocky beach comes in handy as digging around rocks is slow work. We would recommend a large shovel to save bending over and to speed up the excavation.
Step 5 - Plunge your hand into the icy water and pluck the mollusc from it's burrow. We were told to wear rubber gloves but didn't take any on this exploratory mission, next time we will definitely wear some glamorous washing up gloves for their insulating and gripping properties.
Step 6 - Place the clam in a bucket of water and allow a few hours for the sand to clear out.
Step 7 - Cook and eat. One recommendation was to just boil and eat, another to serve with garlic butter.
The clams here are sort of like mini Geoducks. Neither Blaine nor I like Geoduck so we dug only to see if we could capture the beasts. I am going to search for some recipes that sound appealing, then we will head out to a less rocky spot and dig in earnest.
These are great tips for a Qallunaat!
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