When you pick up shells on the beach, you need to clean them as quickly as possible. Remove the clam sitting inside otherwise it will decompose, smell bad, discolor and ruin the shell. Many beautiful types of shells have been discarded from collections because the collector did not know that they needed to be cleaned. TECHNIQUE OF EXECUTION. The easiest way to clean your sink is to freeze it. But you must be patient as freezing and thawing is a lengthy process. “You need to refrigerate the shell for 4 days to effectively clean it without damaging it,” advises R. Tucker Abbott in his book The Seashell Kingdom. Place the clams in a plastic bag and tie it tightly. Place the bag on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for several hours, then put it in the freezer for 2-3 days. To defrost clams, place the bag back on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for about 12 hours, then place them in cold water to soak. Once the clams are completely thawed, which usually takes about 24 hours, you can remove them from their single-shells by pulling them out as if you were unscrewing a corkscrew, using a fork or a bent safety pin. After removing the clams, wash the shells with a brush and warm, soapy water. You can also clean the surface of the shell by soaking it in a bleach solution overnight. To keep your shell shiny, apply baby lube to it. TIPS IN PASSING. YOU will clean freshly collected shells faster if you boil them in fresh or salt water. Since rapid changes in temperature will cause the shell to crack immediately, start with warm rather than hot water. Boil bivalves, such as edible clams, for 1-2 minutes, and single-valves, such as snails, for 6-10 minutes. Let the pan of shells sit for about an hour so that the temperature slowly drops. You can add a small amount of cold water to speed up the cooling process. When the water is cool enough, follow the above procedure for removing the clam. Merchants who sell shellfish place live shellfish, not removed from the shells, into a solution in which the shellfish are dissolved - water and chlorine bleach in a 1:1 ratio. AT LEAST CASE. If you find an interesting shell on a remote island where you don't have a freezer or stove, place the shell in a bucket of dry sand with the hole facing down. The decomposing clam will drain out without damaging the shell. ATTENTION! Do not place shells in fresh water to clean them, as decaying shellfish debris will float in the water and discolor the shell. It is not recommended to use hydrochloric acid for cleaning. Even a weak 10% solution is quite caustic and can damage the sink.

An amazing time of year has come - summer - the time for vacations and travel. As a souvenir of carefree days, vacationers take away stones with beautiful intricate patterns, incredible beauty and unusual shapes, polished pieces of glass and many other valuable things found on the beach or during sea hunting. Having put the sea “trophy” in a bag and taken it out a few days later, an unpleasant picture appears before your eyes: the shells are covered with mold, an unpleasant smell is in the air.

To prevent this from happening, prepare sea shells for storage. There are several ways, choose the one that suits you.

Freezing. This “trick” is useful for those who don’t have time to start cleaning right away. Take a heavy-duty plastic bag and fill it with water and shells and freeze it. As soon as you have time to clean the sinks, defrost the contents. Using tongs or tweezers, toothbrushes or wire, or a sharp knife or fork, clean each shell, gutting everything from the inside. To avoid injury and infection, wear gloves.

Boiling. Fill a pan with water and place the shells in it. Bring to a boil and continue to “simmer” for a few minutes. Drain the water. Rinse thoroughly. Let cool. Remove the insides of the shell.

Microwave heating. Cool and start cleaning. The advantage of this type of cleaning is dry processing. Disadvantage: pungent odor.

Dead sinks are much easier to clean. It is enough to wash them thoroughly, clean or bleach the top layer.

Treatment with chemicals. The technology is simple and convenient. Soak the shells in the prepared chlorine solution (1:1). The duration of cleaning depends on the contamination of the sinks and their shape. The method is suitable for bleaching shells to white.

You can also use bleach, fine sand or tooth powder at home.

Dry the cleaned shells on a paper towel and leave them outdoors for several days. It is recommended to lubricate the treated surface with vegetable or baby oil, then cover it with transparent varnish, thereby extending their shelf life. Don't keep seashells in the sun for too long as they become brittle and break easily.

Shells are an environmentally friendly natural material and therefore are often used as decoration for various interior items. Frames for mirrors and photographs, toys, flowers, paintings, panels, boxes, decorating pots and vases - this is not the entire list of products made from shells. A beautiful sea shell will decorate a shelf or chest of drawers, inspire a romantic sea mood, and serve as an original souvenir for friends. will transform the interior of your home and prolong your holiday memories.

Did you bring shells back from vacation, but they look and smell unsightly? Don’t worry, all these shortcomings can be removed at home without damaging the shells themselves.

How to remove limescale from shells

• Place the shell for several hours in a 25% acetic acid solution (1 part essence, 2 parts water), then remove any remaining plaque with a soft brush. Small limescale deposits can be removed with citric acid. To do this, just rub the plaque with a small slice of lemon, then rinse with warm water.
• You can also use Silit Benk to remove rust and limescale deposits.

How to clean shells and get rid of the smell

Even the most beautiful sea shells smell disgusting if there are rotting shellfish remains inside. Shells are extremely varied in size, shape, and color, but from the point of view of cleaning they are divided into living and dead. The dead have nothing left inside. And the living have not yet been completely cleared of animal tissue, even if they have been dead for a long time.

When cleaning dead shells, immerse them in a 1:1 bleach/water solution. How long to keep it in it depends on the type of mollusk and the number of shells. The minimum time is 30 minutes, but if the shells are very dirty or you want to bleach them white, wait longer. Before you remove them from the solution, make sure the periostracum, the leathery exfoliating covering of some shells, has come off. Then rinse well with clean warm water.

• If there are sea acorns or similar on the surface, scrape it off with a knife.
• If the shell lip is chipped, use a file or sanding disc to round off the sharp edges.
• If you want the shell to shine, coat it with a thin layer of mineral oil or baby oil.

Cleaning live shells, you can use any of the following methods to get rid of the rotting remains inside.

• Bury shells in your yard. Dig up after one to two months. During this time, insects, bacteria, worms, larvae and other living creatures will eat everything that needs to be gotten rid of.
• Deep freeze. Place the shells in a plastic bag, cover them with water, and place them in the freezer for a few days. Then let it thaw at room temperature. After this, it will be easy to pick up the remaining flesh and pull it out.
• Place the shells in boiling water for 5 minutes. Take out one at a time with tongs, take gloves or a towel so as not to get burned, and pull out all the excess from inside.
• A foul-smelling but effective way to clean shells is to “fry” them in the microwave. The time depends on its power and the size of the shells. Start with 30 seconds and add 10 if the initial period is not enough. When removing shellfish from the oven and removing soft shellfish debris, use tongs and be careful not to burn yourself.

If there is still something left inside, place the shell in the yard - let flies, ants and other insects feast on it. When the rotting flesh is finished, treat as described above for the dead shells. Soak in bleach and rinse thoroughly.

Once the processing is complete, grease the shells with oil or varnish.

Which of the people who wandered along the seashore did not collect beautiful shells? They are so attractive and exotic that there is a completely natural desire to preserve this beauty for yourself and admire the long winter evenings, remembering the sea. But, unfortunately, if the shell is not old and scorched by the sun, but also contains a living mollusk, then over time, without proper treatment, it darkens and gives off a bad smell.

Any shell found or caught must be prepared, that is, the shellfish must be removed and removed from plaque. And this process is not as simple as it seems. There are also certain tricks here that will allow you to preserve the sink in all its glory.

The shells of marine mollusks are very diverse, and therefore cleaning is quite individual for each species. Bivalve mollusks should first be opened, for which the muscle fibers that bind them on both sides are cut with a knife. The opened shell is cleaned, closed again and tied with thread to dry. But cleaning snails or mollusks that are in a single-valve twisted shell is much more difficult.

There are two main methods - boiling and freezing. The shell is boiled for a few minutes and then removed with a hook from inside the shellfish, after which it is dried in the sun. But many shells with this method of processing may darken or crumble. Therefore, this method is only suitable for large and strong mollusks.

Small and delicate shells are kept for several days in a jar of clean cold water, changing it periodically. As a result, the living mollusk dies and, rotting, is easily removed. You can also freeze the snails in the freezer, and after thawing, the mollusk can be easily removed with tweezers and the shell dried.

But knowing how to get a clam out of its shell is not enough. It is also necessary to properly clean the calcareous shell of algae and other deposits that have formed. To do this, place the sink in a solution of chlorine bleach for several hours and then rinse with water. To improve the color, the shell should be lubricated with mineral oil.

It is curious that in exotic countries there is no need to resort to such tricks. The shellfish are simply suspended in the hot sun and they come out of the shell on their own. They are immediately picked up and removed. And the shells are dried in the sun and covered with varnish.

All of these methods described above are not particularly complicated. They are worth putting in just a little effort and preparing an exotic souvenir with your own hands, which will bring the owner pleasant memories of the days spent on the seashore.