Razor Clams

Ralphie is processing the Razor Clams we dug last week. Ordinarily we are only allowed 15 clams per dig; however, because last season was so short, the Fish & Game folks have increased the limit to 20 clams. Since both Marta & I got our limits 3 days in a row we ended up with 120 of the tasty mollusks & quite a few of them were the biggest ones I've ever seen. For those of you who aren't familiar with digging Razor Clams, I will tell you that digging them is the fun part depending on the weather. Afterwards they need to be de-shelled & cleaned. I decided to smoke this last batch, but my Traeger smoker is a small one & was acting up so it took me 2 days to get them smoked. Before smoking I placed them into a brine bath for several hours &, since our refrigerator is small, all those clams took over the fridge & they did so even after being smoked. Marta didn't say much since she was responsible for digging part of them, but I could tell that she was a bit miffed when there was no room for her veggie salad. Once the clams were smoked & cut up into bite sized chunks I filled half-pint canning jars with them & added my special secret brew which I am willing to share with anyone who might be interested (it's the honey). I've just finished canning 12 jars & all of them have sealed; now I'm monitoring the canner & the pressure gauge for the next batch. Still have enough smoked, cut up clams for at least one more batch & then I'm done because it takes a good 75 minutes at 12 psi to make sure the canning process has been done safely & all the jars have sealed. By now anyone who is reading this may be wondering, "Why bother?" For me it's all about bartering & gifting. Besides, when you have several jars of Razor Clams you have dug & canned yourself they taste so much better in clam chowder, clam fritters, clam dip, clam linguine, etc.