Live clams can be frozen in home freezers with very good results. Put live clams in a heavy freezer bag, push out excess air and seal. Put the bag on a freezer rack with top and bottom cold air circulation until clams are frozen throughout, approximately two hours at 0 F. They will maintain quality in home freezers up to three months. Clams do not have to be thawed, use directly from the freezer. Remember to label and date the bags.
Most recipes allow unshucked clams to open during cooking.
To shuck a raw clam, hold it in the palm of one hand with the shell's hinge against the palm. Separate both muscles from the two halves of the shell. The Northern hard shell clam, Mercenaria mercenaria , Southern hard shell clam, Mercenaria campechiensis , and their hybrids are grown and wild-harvested in Florida. The differences between the species are slight and both occur within Florida waters. Once the crop is harvested, clams are handled by shellfish houses certified by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection where they are washed, sorted, graded, counted or weighed, packaged and tagged or labeled for shipment.