Video Scripts

Title: Preparing Florida Clams

Length: 2:00

Hi, I'm Tom Thomas from the Florida Department of Agriculture. Today I’m cooking clams, farm raised right here in Florida.

Florida farm-raised clams have a wonderful, fresh sea flavor. And remember, when serving Florida farm-raised clams they can be done very casual like this presentation of steamed clams, or in a more elegant presentation of Clams Casino.

Clams are very healthy for you too. They provide 20 percent of your daily allowance of calcium and iron. They’re a great source of iodine and they are low in fat and cholesterol.

Clams have been an important ingredient in many classic recipes, such as gumbo with okra and rice, Florida clam stew with tomatoes and arugula, what a great taste that is for clams, and how many dishes can you come up with for pasta? This is one of my favorites with basil and garlic.

Clams can be done in very simple presentation such as roasted on the grill, just spread out over the coals until they open up.

Today let’s steam some clams.

To do that, what we need a deep pan. And to that we’re going to add some sliced ginger. Chopped green onions, some chopped garlic, two cups of water, and to that let’s add about a cup of good dry sherry.

We’re going to place this on the burner and put it on about a medium high and let the liquid come to a boil.

While we’re doing this, we’re going to wash our clams off. We’re going to run them under cold running water for a few minutes to remove any surface debris. Drain them really well. We take these back and when the liquid is boiling, we going to add the clams right back to the mixture, cover it, and in five to seven minutes this is what we’ll have. Look at that; doesn’t that look good.

And the best thing about Florida hard clams is they're available year round.

For this and other seafood recipes visit our web site. We’ll see you next time.

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