Umay FR

Species sheet · The Edible Ocean

Manila clam

It arrived by accident with a shipment of oysters, and took over.

  • Steamed open, vongole-style
  • Sautéed with garlic and white wine
  • Raw when very fresh
Manila clam in its natural habitat, Umay image
Ruditapes philippinarum · Umay image, generated from a reference photograph — Gerd Röder, CC BY-SA 3.0
In French
Palourde japonaise
Scientific name
Ruditapes philippinarum
In the water
Benthic; brackish; from 0 to 100 m; mostly sheltered sediments of the shore and shallows.
Season & buying
October to April for firm flesh; in summer it spawns and turns milky, and its shell must be tightly closed, or it's dead.
Common length
~5 cm
How to identify it
Oval shell with a criss-cross lattice of ridges
Beige to grey, patterns vary
Two short, separate siphons

On the plate

Firm briny flesh, a little less fine than the European clam but meatier.

Avoid: Cooking it without purging: it is full of sand and the whole dish is lost.

Introduced to France in 1972 for farming, it displaced the European clam in almost every Atlantic bed within twenty years.

In Umay recipes

17 Umay recipes call for it.

Pan-seared smooth skate wing with clam butter, slow-roasted tomatoes, and chiliClear soup of gurnard, clams, and fennel with mild chiliWhole grilled thicklip grey mullet, spaghetti with clams, and bottarga snowClams CasinoLemongrass clamsChili-lime clams with tomatoes and grilled breadCioppino (San Francisco Seafood Stew)Ceviche de conchas negras (clam version)Carne de porco a alentejana (marinated pork with clams)Linguine allo scoglio (seafood linguine)New England clam chowderStir-fried clams with black beansLinguine with Clams (Linguine alle Vongole)Amêijoas à bulhão patoSeafood cataplanaArroz de mariscoSundubu jjigae