Hi folks,

Here I am, doing the soak and swish thing with my Hawaiian bounty. But I'm
indoors, with only a sink, without the benefit of a hose and my high-pressure
nozzle.

Day after day, dutifully, diligently, I soak and swish and shake out the
shells. Unspeakable smells from bits of rotting viscera and chunks of
decomposing liver are dislodged into the sink and immediately wiped up and
put into a small plastic garbage bag lest my shells and moi find ourselves
out on the sidewalk.

Part of me enjoys this, but part is as impatient as the kid waiting to see if
she got that red Ryder BB gun (or, as it's 2001, let's face it, XBox or Game
Cube) from Santa. So several questions spring to mind.

In some shells where the liver has really started to break down, it doesn't
readily liquefy and pour out. When I shake it , the gnarly little nuggets
often stick like cement to the stainless steel of the sink. I imagine still
more bits clinging to the inside of the shell. Which makes me wonder if some
enzyme, like, say, meat tenderizer wouldn't help? But then I get to wondering
if this might harm the shell, as I understand they have a protein matrix. If
I had some Adolph's on hand, I'd sacrifice a shell or two to an experiment,
but I don't. So I put it to you folks, figuring I'd learn a bit about the
chemistry of the shell that way.

The other thought is liquid detergent. While I am a great one for bleaching
gastropods (To hell with the periostracum, say I! Damn the horny operculums,
full bleach ahead!)), I don't like to put shells in bleach until they are
cleaned out completely. This because I am figuring that if they need more
soaking and swishing, the bleach will discourage bacteria (and how) and slow
down the rotting process. Ditto alcohol. But soap and detergent are not, per
se, inherently, necessarily, antibacterial. They work by helping foreign
material slide off surfaces (Although there is a trend to add antibacterial
chemicals to every soap and detergent out there, which I find to be rather
alarming.) Soap is antibacterial by action, not  by chemical poisoning.

So, when the shells have been rotting for a couple of weeks, (with daily
swishing and water changes) would it be a good idea to mix a bit of liquid
dish detergent (albeit, not the antibacterial kind) into the soak water to
help those stubborn sticky liver chunks dislodge?

Also, on a side note, is it worth it to ask Santa for a waterpick for small
shells for Christmas? (Although I've already asked for a book or two because
I spotted the Wilson Ant book in a secondhand bookstore here in Flag. It has
to be the coolest secondhand bookstore in the world. I've wanted that book
forever.) Anyone with a strong pro or con waterpick position?

thanks,

Ellen
AKA "she of the chapped hands"