Big D's Conch Salad

Courtesy of Bahamas Film & Television Commission

Conch Pearls

Although not a true pearl as they have no nacre, Conch (pronounced konk) Pearls are one of the rarest and most sought after gems. They are produced by the Queen Conch, Strombus Gigas, and are usually found as a by-product in conchs caught for food. When the animal is removed from its shell there is a yellow /orange skirt that helps create the suction that keeps it in its shell. If there is a pearl it will be in this skirt. It so happens that the skirt is also the slimiest part of the creature and many people just cut it off and throw it away. It does not do to speculate on how many pearls have been lost this way.


It has been estimated that only one in every ten thousand to fifteen thousand conch's have a pearl and of those, only some twenty percent are suitable for jewelry. Many Bahamians we know have never found one in their lives, yet others find them on a regular basis.

The colour of the pearl varies but it is usually one of the colours of the shell. The only very rare exception is black. The most desirable is hot pink with the flame effect, when the surface of the pearl looks like flames. Spherical pearls are rarely ever found. The more uniform the shape the more valuable, the higher the luster he better, and of course the larger the pearl the more it is worth.

Some conch pearls have been known to fade over time, yet we have had one for thirty years that looks just the same as when it came out of the animal. It has been suggested that sunlight is to blame for fading. If that is so, sun block should be effective when worn outdoors. Others have suggested that they should only be worn at night. We try to maintain a stock of both loose pearls and conch pearl jewelry at all times, but this can sometimes be difficult as they are offered to us only as the fisher people find them, and finished pieces are quickly snapped up by connoisseurs.

Visit Conch Pearl Galleries

Arawak Cay

Known to Nassau residents as "The Fish Fry," Arawak Cay is one of the best places to knock back a Kalik beer (brewed right on New Providence Island), chat with the locals, or sample traditional Bahamian fare. You can get small dishes such as lobster salad or full meals at one of the pastel-color waterside shacks. Order some steamed, grilled, or fried fish or fresh conch salad, a spicy mixture of chopped conch (just watching the expert chopping is a show as good as any in town) mixed with diced onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and hot peppers in a lime marinade. Twin Brothers and Goldie's Enterprises are two of the most popular stalls. Try their fried "cracked conch" and Goldie's famous Sky Juice (a potent gin and coconut-water concoction).

To reach Arawak Cay, head west along Bay Street, follow the main road around the British Colonial Hilton hotel, and continue west past Western Esplanade, which many locals also call Long Wharf Beach. The cay is on the north side of the T-junction of West Bay and Chippingham Road. It's approximately a five-minute drive or 30-minute walk.

More photos of Arawak Cay

Conch

Conch (pronounced 'konk') is a common name for certain large marine snails. They are gastropod mollusks, the most commercially important of which are in the family Strombidae. The specific species we are concerned with here is the queen, or pink-lipped conch, Strombus gigas, which can be found in warm waters of the Atlantic and the Caribbean from Florida to Brazil. Their shells have overlapping whorls with a bright colored pink lip, which can reach a length of 12 to 13 inches. The operculum, which is the covering of the shell opening, is a claw like structure which the conch uses to dig into the sand and push itself along the bottom. They are plant eaters and can live as long as 25 years.

Conch is the second best known edible snail, the first being escargot from Burgundy, France. Conch has been a popular food source throughout the Caribbean since the time of the Arawak Indians, before Christopher Columbus. The Arawaks also carved the spiral shells into various tools, musical horns (there are still conch-horn blowing contests throughout the Caribbean) and ceremonial objects. They are still an important food source for natives of Haiti and the Bahamas, who use it in soups and salads.

It is illegal to take live conch in U.S. waters, where they are an endangered species, so most conch now comes from the various Caribbean islands, including the Bahamas (where it is sometimes called 'hurricane ham'). However, they are becoming scarce even in those waters, as the price has more than tripled to over $11 per pound this year (2001).

Conch meat has a mild, sweet clam-like flavor, but is extremely tough and must be pounded, or marinated in lime juice to tenderize it before cooking. Some of the most common uses are for conch fritters, conch chowder, conch steaks and marinated raw conch salad. Most restaurants in South Florida have conch fritters and/or conch chowder on the menu, along with the ubiquitous Key Lime Pie.

Web Source - Food Reference Website