"bay scallops" news and stories

We're a sucker for the culinary frenzy of seasonal items when they first hit local menus -- Chesapeake soft-shell crabs, wild Alaskan salmon or Louisiana crawfish. Here in New England, just when the weather turns cold and dreary, that happy tidbit of deliciousness comes in the form of sweet, succulent Nantucket bay scallops. Just don't confuse them with their larger sea-scallop cousins.

These morsels are about the size of the tip of your thumb. The native eelgrass that surrounds the island acts as a nursery for the tender scallops, making them the last substantial wild scallop population on the East Coast, according to Peter Boyce, chair of Nantucket's Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board. The commercial scallop season starts Nov. 1 and runs through the end of March, but most of the madness happens prior to New Year's, before the harbor freezes over and fishermen can still get their boats out on the water.