Photos by Neil Caudle 



Hand-sorting calicoes 



Weighing scallops at the packing table 



pie, was an adaptation of a machine 

 used to stem cherries. 



The mechanical shuckers have been 

 used sparingly since their invention. 

 Mechanical shuckers saw some use 

 during the boom of calico scallops off 

 the North Carolina coast in the late 

 1960s. And some sea scallops were 

 processed on the mechanical shuckers, 

 but Thomas says many of the shucking 

 machines lay idle during the 1970s. 



Idleness isn't a problem today. 

 North Carolina processors are cashing 

 in on the calico lode in Florida just as 

 fast as their trucks can deliver. With 

 equipment already in place, this state's 

 processors were able to jump in on the 

 scallop market quickly, once they saw 

 the profits were substantial and 

 steady. After North Carolina 

 processors entered the market in 1981, 

 they shucked almost half of the $40 

 million of calicoes processed in the U.S. 



Six or more scallop-shucking plants 

 are operating in North Carolina now. 

 Technology is advancing rapidly as 

 processors work constantly to improve 

 their equipment. Much of the shucking 

 equipment is built in local shops since 

 there is no manufacturer of scallop- 

 shucking equipment. A new evis- 

 cerator may cost a processor $20,000 to 

 $25,000. 



Thomas says there are added costs 

 to processing the calicoes in North 



Carolina. Processors here must pay 

 freight costs from Florida and larger 

 ice bills to keep the scallops cold along 

 the way. "With North Carolina pro- 

 cessors, the yield per load of scallops is 

 more critical because processors must 

 pay some added costs before they 

 make a profit," Thomas says. 



Fiorini says it takes the tractor- 

 trailer trucks about 12 hours to make 

 the trip from Cape Canaveral to Car- 

 teret County. The calicoes are iced 

 before they leave Canaveral and, dur- 

 ing warmer months, may be iced again 

 along the way. As soon as the trucks 

 arrive at Homer Smith Seafood, the ice 

 is washed out and the truck backed up 

 to the off-loading ramp, Fiorini says. A 

 front-end loader scoops up calicoes and 

 dumps them into the hopper. 



"They go up a conveyor belt to a 

 shell-trash separater," he says. "It 

 takes the trash fish and broken shell 

 out. And then the scallops leave there 

 and go into a steam tank. We have a 

 boiler and about fifty pounds of 

 pressure. And we have steam pipes; I 

 think we have eight of 'em in there. 

 The steam sprays on the scallops and 

 that causes their mouths to open." 



After leaving the steam tank, the 

 calicoes fall onto a large pan that 

 shakes the meat from the shell. From 

 the shaker the scallops go through a 

 de-sheller, which removes the smaller 



pieces of shell that slipped through the 

 shaker. When the scallops fall onto the 

 eviscerator, a series of rubber-coated 

 rollers pinch the loose viscera away 

 from the meat of the adductor muscle. 



The scallops, looking more like the 

 food we know, now roll down a wide 

 conveyor belt used as the picking 

 table. About four people, usually 

 women, stand on either side of the con- 

 veyor picking out scallops not com- 

 pletely cleaned by the eviscerator. Un- 

 clean scallops are whisked back to the 

 eviscerator for another try. Clean 

 scallops roll on to the packing table 

 where they're weighed and packed in 

 gallon tubs. 



Fiorini says most of Homer Smith's 

 scallops are shipped to New Jersey, 

 New York and Boston, while a few are 

 sold to state retail markets. Most 

 North Carolina processors ship their 

 calicoes to northern seafood markets. 

 Currently, they are getting a price of 

 about $21 a gallon. 



Which tastes better, the bay 

 scallop or the calico? Unless you have 

 the most discriminating taste, you 

 probably can't tell the difference, 

 seafood experts say. "There's 

 definitely a southern preference for the 

 smaller, sweeter bays and calicoes over 

 the sea scallop," says Maiolo. 



—Kathy Hart 



