A Farmer Opens Up about Clamming

Written by Bill Bittar

Ed Popadic Jr., 61, recently took his boat, "Mizz Laurie", onto the Long Island Sound in Milford and brought in a haul of clams for the Monroe Farmers' Market. He and his wife Laurie started Pepe's Cream of the Crop LLC in 2000, but Ed has been on the water most of his life.

"I've worked commercially on the water since '71," he said. "I used to do sea oysters."

Popadic's business is named after his father, Ed Sr., 88, who actually earned the nickname "Pepe" for his lack of pep.

Pepe's Cream of the Crop has been a regular vender at the Monroe Farmers' Market for the past three years. Ed and Laurie Popadic split up to do a number of farmers' markets, in eight towns last year and seven this summer. 

In addition to Monroe, Pepe's Cream of the Crop can be seen in on Saturdays at the Greenwich Farmers Market, and on Wednesdays at the Old Greenwich farm market, Shelton, Stratford, Danbury, and Devon.

Popadic sells little neck, top neck, cherry and chowder clams.

Caring for Your Clams

Popadic makes sure his customers buy their clams from him around the time they're going home, so they stay fresh. In fact, when he saw a woman lingering around a nearby tent for a while after buying clams from him, so he took them back to his refrigerated truck.

Popadic offers advice on how to store and prepare clams at home.

"The biggest mistake is overcooking," he said. "When the clamshell pops open, take it off the heat because it's done."

When clams are overcooked, Popadic said the meat gets tougher.

Before cooking, Popadic recommends keeping clams dry in the refrigerator inside the netted bag you bought them in.

Some people put their clams in water and cornmeal to get the sand out, but Popadic said that only works with steamers and right before cooking.

Doing that with clams fills their bellies with tap water, ruining the natural salty flavor, according to Popadic. 

"It shortens their shelf life," said Popadic. "If it's near a water source, they think they're going to eat and open their shells and lose their juice."

Life of a Clam Farmer

Popadic leases a spot at the bottom of Long Island Sound to grow farm-raised wild clams.

Just as with it growing vegetables and other crops on dry land, Popadic says he has to deal with predators after his clams in the water, including starfish, moon snails and drills.

Storms also cut into his harvest. Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Irene combined to wipe out 4,500 bushels of oysters.

Ed Sr. overheard his son telling the story and chimed in, "That's two girls I hate, Sandy and Irene."