Page 66 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - New England

64 ❯❯ The Top 10 of Everything

New England Foods

Clams
1
It’s easy to get confused by
New England clams. “Quahog” is the
Native-American name for the hard-
shelled clam Mercenaria mercenaria,
but the bivalve has other aliases.
Small ones, known as “littlenecks,”
are served as the ever-popular
battered-and-fried clam. Medium-
sized quahogs are known as
“cherrystones,” and are often eaten
raw. Big ones are stuffed and baked.
Maple Syrup
2 Fresh New England lobsters
Nothing tames a
Yankee sourpuss like
Lobster
pouring on the maple 5
syrup over a stack of One of the pleasures of a
pancakes or waffles. New England summer is setting
In late winter, you might a steamed lobster on a picnic table,
encounter sugar houses cracking it with a rock, and savoring
in the north of New the sweet meat with melted butter.
England boiling Homarus americanus, often called
down the sap “Maine lobster,” is the world’s largest
of sugar maple crustacean, and is generally served
trees. Stop for a at weights of 1¼–3 lb (0.5–1.3 kg).
jug – you’ll never
Oysters
find it cheaper. 6
New England oysters are
Scallops
3 found on sandy bottoms all along
the coast, but those cultured in beds
Scallops
were popular in near Damariscotta, Maine; Wellfleet,
New England Massachusetts; and Norwalk,
Maple syrup cooking long Connecticut, are celebrated for
before they their delicate, distinctive flavors.
became a mainstay of gourmet
restaurants. Look for them sautéed Oysters served on the half shell
in butter, breaded and deep-fried, or
tossed with linguine, herbs, and olive
oil. Scallops are on almost every
menu, not least because New
Bedford, Massachusetts, lands
more scallops than any other
port in the world.
Cranberries
4
Popular in juices and
muffins, cranberries are best
known for the sugary sauce
served as part of traditional
Thanksgiving dinner. The state of
Massachusetts still produces about
half of America’s cranberry crop.

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