Maine's Unsung Clam
For seafood lovers who are willing to brave a winter beach — and do some digging — there are delicacies to be found that rival Maine's famous steamers.
Thomas Urquhart
Digging surf clams by hand is a community ritual I first encountered soon after moving to Maine. Living on Old Orchard Beach during the off-season, I awoke one dawn to find the sand extended almost infinitely into Saco Bay. It was March, the new moon just before the equinox, and the strongest tide of the year. Where waves were finally licking the sand, what looked like the entire town was strung out against an orange sky. Women and children probed the tide-line with garden forks. Farther out, their husbands and fathers, similarly armed, waded in the frigid sea. [for the rest of this story, see the March 2008 issue of Down East.]
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