Best way to get my Abs home?

Hi everyone,
I'm planning an abalone trip soon and I'm wondering what is the best way to get those little beauties home. I live in Monterey, it's about a five hour drive home. Any tips are greatly  appreciated.


Thanks Much,
Native

What I normally do is bring a cooler just big enough to fit the abs plus ice surrounding them. You don't want a lot of air space, so what to do is pour ice on the bottom of the cooler, put you abs individually in white grocery bags -place them face down on top of the ice and then pour more ice on top of them (you can also pour a little water over the ice this will help as well). Pack the cooler full  and you shouldn't have a problem.

Abdiver is right. Once you get them home and decide to put them in your fridge, I like to pop them out of the shell and put them into a big ziplockbag, then I fill the bag full of water and push out all of the air. I stick them in the freezer and they freeze solid. No freezer burn that way. It works for me. They'll last about a year that way.

CHEERS!

Yes, transport them uncleaned inside the shell (on ice in a cooler). It is apparently illegal to clean and then transport them.
Good Luck!

For 20+ years I have been using a cooler and water. Depending on the outside temp, I might put a little ice in the cooler but just enough to keep them cool. My father-in-law taught me the trick. He said that the fresh water helped to get the sand out of the shell. Not sure if it is true but it works so I still use it.

By the way, abs are not supposed to be popped until preparation for consumption. So, "technically" they are still supposed to be in the shell while in the freezer.
 

They won't freeze unless you have a really good deep freezer.  My buddy says they taste better when you freeze them whole but they just wont freeze in my cheap apartment freezer.  Too much salt water I guess and I assume they have some anti-freeze chemicals in them like fish do.  In fact, when I've tried to throw them in my freezer, they secrete a really goopy slime which probably keeps them safe from freezing in a cheap freezer.  I know it's illegal, but shucking them and then freezing is the only way I can store them and I have not noticed any change in flavor.

I put 3 in a dry bag then put the dry bag in my cooler full of ice. Get home, clean and eat.
I never freeze them. Always better fresh.

Fresh water kills them, so keep the ice in a waterproof bag, or us blue ice blocks. A good theing to do, is soak a burlap bag with salt water, ring it out a little and cover them with it along with ice in the cooler and they will last a couple days alive. I have yet to find a way to feeze em and not come out like a tennis shoe sole after. No matter how much I pound em... Eat em fresh. You can get a couple days out of the burlap cooler trick, then clean em and keep em in the fridge for three more. That should be enough time to consume em.

I have yet to find a way to feeze em and not come out like a tennis shoe sole after. No matter how much I pound em...

After about 18 years of freezing abs whole, a friend of mine told me (about 5 yrs ago) to prep the ab (slice and pound) then freeze meal size portions in a baggie surrounded by whole milk. This works better than any other method I've ever tried.  The abs thaw out as tender as though they were fresh, Any time I ever froze them whole I could never get them as tender as fresh no matter how much I pounded them, but this works, give it a try.

As for keeping abs in an ice chest, I've always had the best luck if I kept them on ice but dry, completely out of any ice water that may form, otherwise they seem to absorb the ice water and get squidgy,,,, yes I said squidgy (like spongy with water)

dale

Great tip on the freezing Dale. Thanks, I 'll give it a try. I've froze em in milk before, but not pounded first.  As for keeping em dry for transport, that's why I said to keep the ice in a waterproof bag. The damp bags give them enough moisture to keep em happy for a while.

The milk idea is new to me. I will have to try that. I am doing it a bit different. I put them in the freezer, in a bag of water when I get home. Seeing as I don't get out ab'ing alot, I have to plan my supplies. So, a couple days before I want to have them for dinner, I take them out and thaw them. Once thawed, I clean them and slice them. Then I put them back in the freezer in another bag of water. When I take them out the morning or night before dinner, it takes about two whacks on each side of the slices to get them soft.