The company has kept track of subsequent generations’ growth and survival to ensure the line’s longevity. comes from a long genetic line, beginning with wild clams brought to the lab 50 years ago, according to Wittenstein. on their way to being scattered on the Wellfleet flats. The hatchery helped kickstart larger-scale clam farming on the Cape in the 1980s by nurturing larval-stage clams into spat - seed clams that could be sold to farmers - according to Paul Wittenstein, the hatchery’s general manager. In their youngest form, seed clams are minuscule, on par with a grain of rice.

The lives of most quahogs farmed on the Cape begin at a hatchery in Dennis - the Aquacultural Research Corp. The largest are called quahogs - they keep the family name. The smallest of the quahogs is called the littleneck next up is the topneck then the cherrystone. It is used in swanky dishes like Clams Casino, baked on the half-shell with breadcrumbs and bacon, a recipe reportedly created at the Little Casino in Rhode Island in 1917. It doesn’t typically bear a pearl like some other more ostentatious shellfish, but to the Wampanoag, the beauty of its violet-streaked interior merited its use as currency, called wampum.

It is the most popular culinary clam of the Atlantic coast, yet few know where it comes from and how it gets to their plates. The hard-shelled Mercenaria mercenaria, better known in these parts as the quahog, is the main farmed clam. Millions of clams are born and raised in Barnstable County each year, with Eastham and Wellfleet serving as major hubs of the industry. Follow a quahog’s journey from nursery to table. The company moves as many as 5 million local clams to market each year. Why not give the clam its moment in the sun? Alex Hay at his Wellfleet Shellfish Company in Eastham. Across the country and the world, menus boast oysters hailing from the Outer Cape. EASTHAM - In the hierarchy of Cape Cod shellfish, the story of the clam is often forgotten in favor of the glamorous Wellfleet oyster.

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