Purging & Storing Fresh Clams

Ingredients

• Fresh-dug razor clams
• A cooler with a damp towel
• Cold seawater or salted water (1/3 cup salt per gallon)

Steps

1. On the beach: keep clams in a breathable bag or bucket, cool and damp — never sealed in water for the drive.
2. Home within hours? Clean them the same day; razor clams do not keep like hardshells.
3. If you must hold them: fridge on a damp towel, shells down, up to 24 hours.
4. A short rinse-swish in cold salted water before cleaning floats off surface sand.
5. Clean, then cook or freeze — cleaned meat holds 2 days refrigerated.

Tip. The WDFW limit rule means every clam comes home — clean the broken ones first and cook those tonight.