Scallops

Clean, sweet and tasting of the ocean, scallops are considered a seafood delicacy by many people.  Rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and relatively low in calories, they are an incredibly healthy source of protein. The name "scallop" aptly describes the fluted edges of the fan shaped scallop shell. The shells of young scallops, in particular, are beautiful; the outside is delicately colored, sometimes having pink and white or other darker color variations. The inside of the shells are pearly white and have a satiny luster. As with many delicacies, many stories and traditions have grown up around the scallop.  You may have heard the term “Coquille de St. Jacques.”  While this names a classic scallop preparation, it also translates to “St. James’ shell.”  St. James the Greater was a disciple of Jesus and is the Patron Saint of Spain.  Pilgrims traveling to his shrine carried a scallop shell with them to signify that they were making a pilgrimage.  At stops along the way on his pilgrimage, the pilgrim was offered what food he could scoop up in his shell.

What Are Scallops Really?

It is nice to know a little history of the scallop as a symbol of pilgrimage and fertility, but what are they?  Scallops are bivalve mollusks.  This means that they have two shells.  Although the reproductive organs, or roe, are edible, the part of the scallop that most people in the United States eat is the adductor muscle that opens and closes the shell.

Some people refer to this muscle as “the nut” or “the eye” and this sweet flavored muscle is the only part of the scallop eaten by Americans.  Europeans, in contrast, eat the entire scallop meat. Unlike other mollusks that we eat, such as mussels and oysters, most species of scallops are free-swimming and can propel themselves across the sea floor several feet at a time by rapidly opening and closing their shells.

Types of Scallops

The New England sea scallop Placepten magellinacus is the most commercially important scallop in the United States. It has a saucer shaped shell and grows as large as 8 inches in diameter with the muscle or "eye" sometimes reaching up to 2 inches across.

The bay scallop is much less plentiful, but greatly desired by scallop fanciers. It reaches a maximum size of about 4 inches in diameter with the muscle or "eye" about 1/2 across. The bay scallop shell is similar to that of the sea scallop except that it is smaller, more grooved, and the edges are more serrated or scalloped.

A number of important scallop beds were found through Bureau of Commercial Fisheries exploration. The calico scallop, located off Florida and in the gulf of Mexico, is closely related to the bay scallop although slightly larger. It gets the name "calico" from the mottled or calico appearance of the shells.

Another source of sea scallops was found in the cold waters surrounding Alaska. This species, found as far south as Oregon, is a different variety of sea scallop than that found in New England waters.

How Are They Harvested?

Scallops are harvested in one of two ways—by trawling or by diving.  Trawling is done by scraping the ocean floor and pulling up scallops (and whatever else is down there) without regard to maturity or to the damage possibly being done to the ocean floor. A more environmentally friendly, albeit expensive, method of harvest is by diver and giving us “diver scallops.”  A diver scallop is not another species of scallop, nor does it designate at size.  Rather it describes the manner in which the scallops were harvested. Divers go down and choose mature scallops by hand, leaving behind immature scallops as well as leaving the ocean floor alone.  Since the ocean floor is not disturbed by the divers, diver scallops are usually less gritty than those harvested by bottom trawls.

Farmed Scallops                                                     

Scallops are commonly raised "on-bottom" or "off-bottom." The off-bottom technique is preferred, because these scallops are harvested by hand. On-bottom scallops are often removed from the seafloor with a heavy net called a dredge, which can harm ecosystems that marine life depends on.

Ninety-six percent of the scallops consumed in the U.S. are wild-caught in U.S. and Canadian fisheries. Of the four percent that are farmed, most are imported from China and Japan. While Japan has made key advances in scallop aquaculture technology, there are concerns about cultured scallops raised in China.

 

Trawling for Scallops



Day Boat Scallops & STP

Unlike other mollusks that can hold themselves tightly closed once caught, sea and bay scallops cannot and are extremely perishable.  For this reason, scallops are killed right after harvesting.  Some are immediately frozen while others are brought quickly back to shore to be sold as “day boat scallops,” some of the freshest, and priciest, scallops you can find.

Due to their extreme perishability and the high costs of only taking a boat out for a day at a time, some scallop fishermen treat their scallops with a solution of sodium tripolyphosphate, or STP, which helps keep the scallop from drying out.  Used judiciously before freezing, treatment with STP is not necessarily a bad thing.

Unfortunately, when used in great quantity, a soak in STP causes scallops to absorb a lot of excess moisture, sometimes as much as 50% of their weight.  Of course, since scallops are sold by weight, this artificially inflates the price.

How Are Scallops Sold?

Like shrimp, scallops are sold by count-per-pound.  Sea scallops might be marked at 10/20, meaning that between 10 and 20 scallops are in each pound.  This translates to scallops that weigh somewhere between .8 to 1.6 ounces each.  The higher the numbers, the smaller the scallops.

Of course, larger sea scallops tend to be the most expensive.  Another weight designation you might see is U/10 or U/15.  This means that it takes fewer than, or under, 10 (or 15) to make up a pound.  Here again, the larger the U number, the smaller the scallop.  Bay scallops, being smaller than sea scallops, generally fall in the 70/120 range.  This roughly equates to between 4 to 9-10 bay scallops per ounce.