I don't say either! Don't think I've ever had them.

Not since my last trip to Florida. What I really miss is abalone! Gosh, I grew up on abalone sandwiches instead of burgers. Now I'm homesick for Pismo Beach. :(

/t

I love conch - when it's picked up fresh off the ocean floor and eaten raw on the deck of the boat..or in a fresh conch salad in Paradise Island...

but no fresh conch to be found in rural Western NY in February - or anytime for that matter!

Nope, not a fan so I dont have any recipes....

Alexa

I sometimes find them when I go clamming, but I don't eat them. My memories of them is tough, tough, tough!

I love conch....but it's not fo0und here in the hinterlands....

Didn't know they were edible.

But never met a seafood I didn't like.

Will be interesting to see what you do!

Rusty

Love conch fritters! Especially when dining in St. Thomas with our Ginger!

I wish my camera was working, I still have the 20" long shell from which we extracted the conch we netted in the Gulf and used for conch chowder. I had the shell cleaned at the Shell Factory in Ft. Myers. IIRC, I made a basic seafood chowder recipe.

Ingredients:

* 4 slices bacon, diced
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
* 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
* 1 jar (4 ounces) chopped pimientos, drained
* 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomaotes
* 2 small garlic cloves, minced
* 2 ribs celery, with leaves, chopped
* 1 large baking potatoes, peeled and diced
* 1 tablespoon minced parsley
* 1 1/2 pounds ground conch meat
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 5 cups clam juice or seafood broth
* 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
* a few dashes Tabasco sauce
* salt, to taste
* 2 tablespoons chopped green onions, white and green parts

Preparation:
Cook diced bacon in a heavy 4-quart pot over medium heat until crisp and fat is rendered. Add onion, bell pepper, pimientos, tomatoes, garlic, celery, potatoes and parsley. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is transparent, about 7 to 9 minutes. Add the ground conch, wine, clam juice or broth, black pepper, Tabasco sauce and salt.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, until potatoes have broken down, serving as a thickener for the chowder. Serve hot, garnished chopped green onions.

I don't eat anything that comes from the water.

The ones I had in the Caribbean were tough. They tasted okay, but I didn't like the texture - it was like really thick calimari. None of the shells I picked up had live animals in them, however.

Lars

Have never tried them... are they good? LOL Al

I've heard you have to pound the bejeezus out of them and doing so is a messy business. I've never had any. Someday.

"I don't eat anything that comes from the water."

Wow, everyone has their own tastes but that sure is an extreme statement. It's like "I never eat anything that has walked on this earth"...or "I never eat anything that has been grown in dirt!".

Everyone has their own tastes but that is a very close minded way of thinking IMHO. But before you blast me for that statement I do want to say that you and everyone else has their right to choose whatever they want to put into their mouths....and I respect that....even if I don't quite understand it.

Duane

My pleasure was meeting Ginger from St Thomas and she took me to an awesome restaurant, for the conch fritters.

She knows the bestest places cause she lives there.

And awesome getting to meet her!

It's not the mind Duane. All of it taste fishy to me. It's not something I can do anything about believe me, I have tried. I want to like it. Peoples bodies and taste differ widely. I bet there's something out there that tastes horrible to you. Well everything that has lived in the water tastes horrible to me.

For those who has not tried conch:

It is not tough if prepared properly (cooked a long time).

It is very delicious. It tastes like clams except better (IMHO).

You can buy ready-to-eat canned ones.

I will be going to buy some fresh conch in the shell the next couple of days. They are not cheap.

dcarch

I tried a conch fritter in key West and found it to be the most revolting thing I've EVER put in my mouth LOL We did wonder about tourist food and perhaps there is better to be found in an American home!

"I tried a conch fritter in key West and found it to be the most revolting thing I've EVER put in my mouth LOL"

Yep LOL Except I was in Maimi LOLOLOL! And I do like just about every non-finned form of seafood so I really thought I would like these too.

Alexa

I eat anything that comes from the water.

Jim

The only time I eat conch is in a soup or stew on Anguilla. Only fresh. Canned conch? Some foods should only be eaten fresh.

One of my favorite things in the world is watching my kids hold up small conch or snails to hum them out of their shells. It really works, and it's adorable.

AM

Whelk, conch, or scungilli are highly priced for their health benifits and great taste in all continents.

However, like all seafood, unless they are very fresh and well prepared, they can be very revolting.

dcarch

One of my favorite appetizers (if it's on the menu) is conch fritters. Love them!

I love nearly everything that comes from the water, except catfish. It's too "muddy" for my tastes.

I did have conch fritters while visiting my mother in Florida and didn't care enough for them that I bothered to try them again, they were both chewy and strong.

Not revolting, not unchewable, just not good enough that I've tried again. I'm only assuming they were some "food service" type pre-prepared and frozen things, so if I found some fresh (yeah, right, in Michigan, LOL) I'd probably try again.

Abalone, now I've never had that. I heard it was delicious, Elery heard that it was terrible. Neither of us have any experience in that.

Annie

dcarch,

We have whelks in our Cape Cod waters and, despite being a long time fan of Euell Gibbons, I have never eaten one. Whelks have an obvious resemblance to scungilli. Do you have any personal knowledge about the gustatory quality of whelk?

Jim

Another who has tried conch a few times and have done my duty......never again. Too many really good things from the sea to waste my time eating something that has to be cooked just right.....and with conch it has to be seriously just right.

I ove con ch fritters and chowder...never had them any other way...and no, they don't taste like clams...they taste like conch.
And stone crab doesn't taste like blue crab and east coast oysters don't taste like Oregon oysters.
And Beverly I'll bet you never had a lobster fresh from the water....or crappie caught an hour ago, breaded and pan fried in butter.
When fish tastes fishy...it's over the hill....fresh fish has no smell like raw fresh beef is almost odor free.
Linda C

LindaC, I'm just cracking up here, I KNEW you were going to say that: "I'll bet you never had.....".

ROFLMAO, I can read LindaC's mind, and I probably shouldn't!

Annie

Well....just hang with me....and you will have tried everything....
But I find that people who say fish is "fishy" are from the midwest and never dropped a hook in the water and all the ocean fish they ate was trucked in.
I know when I firstg came....and saw what was offered here for "fresh fish" I gagged. But things afre lots better now...but fresh isn't really "fresh"...it's easily 3 day from the dock....and who knows how long before that....I buy frozen....which you know isn't fresh either.
Going to Florida Monday....conch fritters, grouper and snapper....heaven!

"Posted by jimster ------dcarch, We have whelks in our Cape Cod waters and, despite being a long time fan of Euell Gibbons, I have never eaten one. Whelks have an obvious resemblance to scungilli. Do you have any personal knowledge about the gustatory quality of whelk?
Jim"

Oh yes I have. The very small ones (grape size) you can get in Chinese restaurants. They grind off the spiral tips and you just suck the meat out. I normally order them in black bean spicy sauce. Then there are the larger ones (prune size) you can get in Chinatown here in NYC. I have also gotten them in cans. They all have similar tastes and texture.

I think the only kind that comes in the spiral shell that I have never tasted is hermit crabs, which is an entirely different species.

dcarch

"I think the only kind that comes in the spiral shell that I have never tasted is hermit crabs, which is an entirely different species."

That's because a hermit crab occupies the abandoned spiral shell of a molusk, not its own shell, which is not a shell but a carapace. But that is of no gustatory importance. Hermit crabs are fun for the kids at the beach but will never be a food item.

Now I will be on the lookout for whelks. For the sake of your fine reputation on this forum I hope they are tasty. ;-)

BTW, concerning spiral critters, I had to gather periwinkles several times before overcoming my reluctance for eating snails. When I finally cooked and ate them, they were very good. They are abundant around here but rarely eaten. But then, mussels used to be under appreciated in New England. Not any more.

Jim

On second thought, dcarch, the whelks you describe probably are not the same ones I was thinking of that we have here. Ours are perhaps 6" long (see link below). We also have some very small whelks called dog whelks which possibly are like the Chinese restaurant type you mentioned but they are really tiny.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Whelk

"Posted by jimster ----On second thought, dcarch, the whelks you describe probably are not the same ones I was thinking of that we have here. Ours are perhaps 6" long (see link below). We also have some very small whelks called dog whelks which possibly are like the Chinese restaurant type you mentioned but they are really tiny.
Jim"

Come to think of it, I think I am wrong. The ones they serve in Chinese restaurants may in fact be periwinkles. I think the conchs in the markets here are more like whelks.

I would definitely try out the ones you find.

dcarch