You were wise....
I think they were dead when you bought them....and rigor mortise had set in...all but for the one...

I would have tossed them too!

Alexa

Linda is right. You had DOA clams. The time to worry is when you bring them home from the store. Next time, when you bring them home, let them rest in the fridge for a bit, in an open container (I like a colandar). They should open their shells just a bit. Tap the shell, or pick up the clam. It should close right up. If it doesn't, it is dead and should be thrown out. All the others should open during the cooking process. Sometims, we'll pile too many in a steamer and the clams won't all open. Adjusting the pile 99% of the time allows for the others to open. We eat all the clams that have opened, even just barely.

Remember, the term "bad clam" came about for a reason.

Jojoco:
I second your Clam Thread.
Tap the Clam if is slightly opened, if it doesn't close,
Shuck it. I meant chuck it.

Ah, shucks !!!
LOU

Dead clams are great for sushi. LOL

Clams, oysters (may be scallops?) are a different class of food. Even live ones you have to be extremely careful where they come from. They can carry toxins that cannot be neutralized by cooking.

I am trying not to eat raw clams and oysters. But they are so good.

dcarch

Thanks all - I'm glad I went with my gut, although it ruined the nice design/presentation I had made. Jo - Thanks for that test; sounds familiar now that I read it, but I had totally forgotten.

It's hard to enjoy any food you suspect to be unsafe, whether or not it actually is unsafe.

With clams it helps a lot to know their source as well as how they have been stored and for how long. Clams from a good fish market will be reliable and can be stored in your fridge for several days. The clerk will inspect them as your purchase is packed to be sure there are no bad or broken ones.

Live clams in good condition "clam up" tightly when disturbed. It's unusual for a good clam not to open when cooked. Rarely, a clam which doesn't open is a "mudder", a dead shell with no clam inside and packed full of sand and mud. If you don't discover a mudder prior to cooking it can create a mess, but usually it won't open.

Jim

Another concern I have, and I'm sure Jimster can attest to this, is when the clams were harvested. Quite often by the time the state government has issued a red tide warning, the clams from the past few days are already suspect. They are alive and will open/close as you would expect, but they can make one deathly ill. Since red tide is usually associated with warmer waters, I generally don't worry about it when I am eating steamers in northern New England in the winter months, but I am very hesitant to eat any bivalve in the summer months no matter where it is from.

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Tide Fact Sheet

Actually, I had never thought about the potential problem of a late red tide warning. The government is very diligent with its monitoring program, testing is done on a daily basis when conditions are favorable for red tide and the scientists who do the monitoring know those conditions. Shellfish beds are quickly closed when there is red tide.

I should add that I have eaten a lot of clams in my lifetime, both raw and cooked. I have never become ill from them, either because of spoilage, pollution or red tide. These are legitimate concerns but ones which need not cause a great deal of fear. Just be aware of the possibility and treat shellfish with reasonable care.

Jim

99% of the time red tide clams (or any other filter feeder) will just give you a tingle. Its that 1% of the time you want to miss.

I well remember having a seafood feast that involved some friends from away, the hereditary chief of the T'Sooke nation and his family and a couple of low level government wonks from the Dept. of Fisheries.

we were discussing putting in a clam cleaning station, where live, beach harvested clams are allowed to clear grit and such in a controlled manner before wholesale delivery.

Anyway, lots of fun but soon some of us started to have numbness in our lips and cheeks. Took a while to realize because there were some adult beverages involved (OK, a lot)

It was an interesting few hours as we waited to see if we were 1%-ers. All turned out well, toxic shellfish paralysis is pretty rare but it is available.