Bahamian Royalty: The Queen Conch

Tossing conch salad

Conch fritters “Scorched” (Bahamian vernacular) which means “to score” or scratch the surface of the conch which tenderizes the flesh, making it easier to eat.

Crack conch served with a sauce by ‘Conch N’ Cone’

By Shavaughn Moss Photographs courtesy of L. Roscoe Dames II, Shavaughn Moss and Nikia Wells

Let’s get this pronunciation correct right out of the gate—it’s conch (konk)—not (konch) or some other variation. And conch is a sea snail—a rather delicious one that Bahamians love to eat, I might add. The scientific name is Strombus gigas. Whatever you call it, it’s a must-have. And we stand behind the statement that you will not find conch prepared more deliciously anywhere else than in the Bahama islands.

Secondly, if you think you’re going to purchase a queen conch to try to remove the meat yourself, you have ‘two … maybe even three things coming’. It’s probably more difficult to remove a conch from its protective shell than it is to shuck an oyster. As much as we love eating conch, the average Bahamian can’t extract this much revered sea snail from its shell. We have to seek out the experts—people who have been trained in conch cracking—to do so, who can remove a conch from its protective shell faster than you can blink an eye. They have the technique ‘down pat’. To be able to remove the mollusc from its “fort”, they say the conch’s shell must first be cracked in a very specific place, then “jooked” (stabbed) under the conch to detach the mollusc from its shell. After that, the conch can be easily removed from its shell.

When visiting the conch man, pull on your big boy trousers and ask for the pistol or piston, which Yellow, (a conch vendor), says is the conch’s spine, but which folklore deems is a natural aphrodisiac, which, upon consuming enough, acts like a natural Viagra.

With all that said, make no mistake about it, the conch is a staple in Bahamian culture, with the status of a cultural symbol. It is akin to a national treasure. This mollusc is treasured.

Its meat is a well-loved delicacy enjoyed in a variety of ways, so a visit to The Bahamas isn’t complete without a meal featuring conch. Popular food dishes include cracked conch—tenderized conch meat that is battered, breaded and deep fried to a golden perfection; conch fritters; conch chowder; conch salad—prepared raw with citrus juices and fresh vegetables; or scorched conch (technically scored, but you’re in The Bahamas; we will mess up a word and make it our own—so, if you want to stay true to the lingo, ask for it scorched) with a squeeze of citrus juice and the ubiquitous hot pepper; from there, the variations to the conch salad are numerous, including adding in fruits such as pineapple and mango which has become popular in recent times and referred to as a tropical salad. Dishes like stew conch are the ultimate comfort food and is traditionally served over grits or white rice; and grilled. A conch dish, in some variation or another, is found on the menu of any Bahamian restaurant including cracked conch on a burger.

While the conch is a national treasure for Bahamians - conchs are native to the coasts of the Caribbean, the Florida Keys and Bermuda. But in The Bahamas, the queen conch is king. It’s a soft-bodied edible sea snail with an external spiral-shaped shell and a glossy pink or orange interior.

Conch is also an important part of the marine food chain—juvenile conchs are eaten by crawfish, crabs, hermit crabs, sea snails, hogfish and queen triggerfish. Large conchs are eaten by sea turtles, octopus, stingrays and leopard rays. So, conch is enjoyed by more than just humans.

In the quantities that conch has been consumed in The Bahamas, there is no surprise that overharvesting has taken place. Various researchers have concluded that the queen conch is locally depleted in The Bahamas.

In the interest of conservation, the harvesting and possession of conch with a shell that does not possess a well-formed lip is prohibited.

Able to live 20 years or more, adult queen conchs reproduce annually in spawning rituals where the females lay egg strands onto the sand. After up to two months drifting in the water, the larvae settle in shallow flats. Juvenile conchs remain buried in the sandy sea bottom for an entire year before they emerge. At three to four years of age, conchs are ready to reproduce. Once the queen conch reaches its maximal size, the shell begins to form a flaring lip, which is the clearest indication of it having reached adulthood. Lip thickness is important because when conchs are harvested too young, they would not have had a chance to reproduce and rebuild the population.

After the consumption of its meat, the shell is versatile and perfect for repurposing, after a thorough cleaning. It then becomes a marvel to behold with a glossy pink or orange interior. And its shells are popular in jewellery making.

Another by-product of the queen conch is the elusive pearl. Pretty and pastel-hued, most often pink in colour and normally oval-shaped, the finest examples display a wave-like “flame” structure on their surface and have a creamy, porcelain-like appearance and unique shimmer.

A single, elusive conch pearl is found in every 10 to 15,000 shells, although less than 10 percent of them are gem quality, according to The Jewellery Editor. This, together with its unusual colour, makes the conch pearl extremely desirable.

Excellent pearls can cost as much as $15,000 per carat, and more, but those are the exceptionally rare ones. Top-grade conch pearls are more typically around $4,000 to $7,000 per carat and nice, but not necessarily perfect pearls around $2,000 to $3,000.

FYI (for your information), the mollusc itself has a mottled grey head with a large proboscis (like a nose or beak) and long eye stalks with eyes at the end. Beneath the shell is a strong foot with a “claw” like a pointed toenail. And they are either male or female, just like humans. The male has a black arm over his right eye. The female conch has a groove that runs down the right side of her foot. And it eats plants or algae.

Traditional crack conch Traditional and creamy conch chowder