- Thread starter danytravel
- Start date
Clams/ mussels in Sosua/Puerto Plata area
The oysters/bivalves are fine as long as they are closed. They open as soon as they die. Almost all mussels are farmed from Prince Edward Island in North America. We used to buy them fresh for $9/half bushel and got 15 $14 appetizers out of them the last time I cooked them.
Dominican like lambi and oysters. Anything else is going to imported and likely frozen, which turns them into leather.
Now I want some New England style chowder..
Since you seem to know your Clams, and shellfish...
Can you tell us why Dominican Lambi can make one violently Sick ( and for those who know what im talking about, its really really bad, like 2 days of hell)
Anyway,
and yet in the states I Can eat " scungilli" at any Italian restaurant with NO Problem whatsoever.
Is it how they clean them? freshness ?
I love fresh oysters, clams shrimp etc. but I don't understand people eating them out of some guy's box walking down the beach or worse yet street in any one of these beach towns. I won't eat oysters from any but the best restaurants in the states or Europe. I would NEVER trust them here.
Case in point. I am at plan B one day enjoying a morning coffee when I see the local oyster "shuckster" stop at the trash can across the street, pick through his treasure of oysters and toss some in the trash. First of all, I would NEVER have purchased raw (or any other) oysters from him, but as I watch him pick through the oysters and deposit some in the trash I realize that if I was naive enough to buy from him 10 minutes prior I most likely would have purchased those that he had just disposed of.
I love seafood BUT you better be careful from whence they come.
Case in point. I am at plan B one day enjoying a morning coffee when I see the local oyster "shuckster" stop at the trash can across the street, pick through his treasure of oysters and toss some in the trash. First of all, I would NEVER have purchased raw (or any other) oysters from him, but as I watch him pick through the oysters and deposit some in the trash I realize that if I was naive enough to buy from him 10 minutes prior I most likely would have purchased those that he had just disposed of.
I love seafood BUT you better be careful from whence they come.
I have a friend in the restaurant biz. I have accompanied him on purchasing runs. I have seen the place in Sosua where the bivalves are harvested. He does not buy from there, gracias a Dios. I have never seen anything filthier. As in one toe in the water: instant amoebas.
Hmmmm. Clamps? Is there something you're not sharing????? Inquiring minds need to know.
Crustaceans, mussels, clams, lobsters, etc., are filter feeders. They take minute amounts of food in their bodies and digest it very slowly. They do the same with toxins, naturally occurring and man made ones like fecal coliform from untreated sewage discharged into the ocean coastal areas. The toxins build up in their tissue over time and they can cause major stomach problems or death in the case of some neurotoxins. In Canada and the USA, any shellfish taken from areas with no sewage treatment have to be depurated, flushed for a specified period of time and then analyzed before going to market. I don't know if any such regulations exist in the DR. In my coastline explorations in the DR, I have observed rivers contaminated with raw sewage from people and animals flowing directly into the ocean. Local people can develop a tolerance to low level toxins over time, however, foreigners can be hit pretty hard by low level toxins. A lot of shellfish is eaten fresh and the risk of toxin poisoning is greater. Before I'd eat any shellfish in the DR, I'd have to be certain of where it is collected and how it is handled after collection. I live in Atlantic Canada and I've been spoiled by the abundance of safe delicious oysters, mussels, clams, etc., and our cold water lobster is far superior in taste to the warm water langouste available in the DR. BUYER BEWARE!
Since when are lobsters filter feeders? I thought you are from the East Coast? Must be a newfie...
Lobsters eat crabs, clams, mussels, starfish, smaller fish, and sometimes even other lobsters. A lobster does have teeth — but they are not in its mouth, they are in its stomach. The food is chewed in the stomach between by what look like three molars. These are called the “gastric mill”.
My mistake Amigo. Should have separated out lobsters from filter feeders. I make mistakes when I post without wearing my fricken bi-focals. Hate them. The issue with lobsters is picking up toxins from eating crustaceans or living in the coastal zones near sewer pitfalls where they like to live because of the free food source. In Atlantic Canada some fishermen set their lobster pots near sewer out falls. Yummy!
One of the places is in Charamicos. There used to be a pueblo there but they had to move it because it's below a cliff and every time it rained, it would flood, so the whole village was moved. I had some pictures from there, but I think I deleted them.