When I bite into a scallop the big sea variety, what is the crunchy thing I sometimes hit?

<—-deathly allergic to scallops

Didn’t know about the crunchy thing. Can’t wait to learn the answer!

My guess would be sand.

Maybe part of the shell? or what @oratio said. I second sand.

I’m thinking sand…I’m wondering if they aren’t getting washed properly.

Is this a common thing or rare? If it is more common…might be the shell.

It’s sand. Ick.

It could also be the muscle that attaches the scallop to its shell.

Like the true oysters, scallops have a central adductor muscle, and thus the inside of their shells has a characteristic central scar, marking the point of attachment for this muscle. The adductor muscle of scallops is larger and more developed than that of oysters, because they are active swimmers; scallops are in fact the only migratory bivalve.

Shell or sand. That’s what chef hubby says.

@gailcalled

That muscle is the part that is eaten, specifically because of its size, so the whole scallop is made on it :>)

Aha. But isn’t there a little gristly end that one spits out?

It’s usually smack in the middle. While it’s not very big, it’s very hard and crunchy. More so than how I would imagine sand would feel. Someone along the way mentioned pearls. Could it be a very underdeveloped pearl?

These are the type I’m talking about.

The Pilgrim’s scallop right? I am not sure they make pearls as oysters do, but even if they do, oysters make pearls by coating a piece of sand with nacre.

I always assumed it was sand. In fact, we used to say they were ‘lightly sanded’.