The weird food trend on the rise in China

IT’S a delicacy that’s highly-prized in Hong Kong and China that gets plenty of laughs and giggles. Would you eat it?

The geoduck ("gooey duck") Panopea generosa, is a species of saltwater clam.

Meet the geoduck. The first reaction is usually fits of giggles and sniggering. The second is probably: what is heck is it?!

First of all, it’s not a duck. Secondly, it’s not pronounced geo — strangely, it’s pronounced “gooey”. So, it’s a “gooey duck”.

A geoduck is a type of large saltwater clam that’s said to be deliciously sweet with a crunchy texture — if you can look past its resemblance to a ... um, certain part of the male anatomy.

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Geoducks on display in a Hong Kong restaurant aquarium with abalone.

This strange looking sea creature is a highly-prized delicacy in Hong Kong and China and can be found in live fish tanks out the front of seafood restaurants.

The geoduck is can burrow one metre below the seabed and leave its two siphon holes at the end of its “elephant trunk” neck protruding above the surface to draw in seawater.

They can weigh more than 5kg and live well over 100 years old. Despite its popularity in China, the geoduck is actually native to the Pacific Northwest. Canada and northwestern parts of the United States are big on farming and exporting the phallic-looking mollusc.

In the US, exports to China and Hong Kong account for more than 90 per cent of the harvested clams, which pays 15 times the price you’d find in America.

It’s also considered an aphrodisiac. Can’t imagine why.