The Conch Whisperer

Heard today on WBEZ's Marketplace: The Conch Whisperer an audio piece on conch farming for consumption and sustainability purposes. I found it both amusing and informative. I've never tasted conch myself, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity.

link to audio

-ramon

Ramon,

That's very cool about conch farming, thanks for the heads up. When TODG dragged me down on a project to St. Kitts two years ago, I kind of dreaded the (apparent) prospect being conched to death. Far from it: had it only once, because it had already become rare, and, consequently, quite expensive. I didn't think too much of it, sort of like a tough abalone (!!), but I'm sure there are wonderful things to be done with it.

It's just amazing how fast an overfished fishery crashes....

Geo

hi,

conch is readily available and cheap, usually imported frozen. All of what is on the market in the US is farmed, but some wild conch is taken commercially overseas. they are very had to get fresh or live because the shell is very heavy which makes shipping prohibitively expensive.

Erik.

Hi,

In this thread on conch fritters, I advised there were live (or recently dead?) conch at Chicago Food Corp. I was there within the last 6 weeks and saw the same *display* by the seafood and butcher display in the rear.

Chicago Food Corporation
3333 North Kimball Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
773-478-3130

Regards,

i believe you can also find canned conch @ Chicago Food Corp as well... also heard the segment on NPR last nite. made me wanna go to the korean market and make some conch salad...

Any decent italian grocery will carry canned scungilli. I think i paid 3 or 4 bucks for a 29 oz can in Highwood. -Will

WillG wrote:Any decent italian grocery will carry canned scungilli. I think i paid 3 or 4 bucks for a 29 oz can in Highwood. -Will

WillG is right there. I'm fairly certain I've seen the item at Graziano's on Randolph and out at one or more of the places in the Harlem Ave. area. I might be at Conte di Savoia later today and will check there as well.

That said, I don't know how good the quality of the canned scungille or sconcigli are. In my family, a simple and delicious salad of sconcigli was made now and again and almost every year showed up at the Christmas Eve seafood feast...
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=18049#18049
... Both my grandmother and my mother would get them from the fishmonger and cook them up from scratch. This is a dish I miss very much -- maybe it's time I make it...

Antonius

You can select the conch you desire. I've used it to make ceviche like I had in Panama, and one of my favorites: conch fritters.



Conch meat



After dicing and mixing with flour, eggs, and spices



Fritters frying (outdoors)



Conch fritters

I've also gotten decent abalone (considering that we're in the Midwest) from Chicago Food Corp., but that's another story and other images.

Cheers,
Wade

I've haven't had conch in a long time, but it does bring back memories. Very long ago I was in the Bahamas during Spring Break where, while at lunch , a couple of guys I knew recommended the conch chowder.

I ordered the chowder and enjoyed it -- my recollection is that it tasted somewhat like a very spicy Manhattan clam chowder. In fact, I had it several more times during my stay.

What I do remember is that the guys who recommended it had an odd look on their faces as I wolfed down the chowder and told them how good it was. Looking back I realize they thought they were playing a prank on me because it was so hot.

Little did they know how much I liked spicy foods. My tolerance for heat isn't what it used to be, but it's nice to know that it stood me in good stead in the past.

The sell what appears to be fresh conch at Fresh Farms. How do you get the meat out of there, and how much do you usually get in each shell?

If you have a truly fresh conch and want the meat for a ceviche, you put the conch in a towel and use a hammer to break the spiral near the tip. then you can reach in with a knife and cut the conch free from the shell, trim the guts like a snail, and thinly slice or pound thinly and make conch fritters if not real fresh. These are small conch and you don't get a lot.-Dick