Why are my clams grey?

[Rhone1998]

After steaming my 30 or so littlenecks in what started out as a beautifully golden, bubbly mixture of (mostly) butter, plus white wine, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chile flakes for a few minutes, lifting the lid reveals a pot full of clams sitting in a now sickly grey liquid.  Everything tastes great, and there's no grit, but that color...anything I can do about that?

[curls]

What kind of cookware did you use? If it wasn't stainless steel or enamel coated cast iron, it is possible that the pot reacted with the lemon juice (and the wine -- depending how acidic it is).

[Rhone1998]

1 hour ago, curls said:

What kind of cookware did you use? If it wasn't stainless steel or enamel coated cast iron, it is possible that the pot reacted with the lemon juice (and the wine -- depending how acidic it is).

That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought about the cookware at all. But it was actually an enamel coated cast iron pot...

[Al Dente]

I've had this happen before. Looks like dirty dishwater, right?

Here are some theories ranging from reactions with sulfites in the wine to algae in the clams:

https://www.chowhound.com/post/steamed-clams-juice-turned-strange-blue-ish-color-897453?page=2

[curls]

22 hours ago, Rhone1998 said:

That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought about the cookware at all. But it was actually an enamel coated cast iron pot...

Well, there goes my theory. Looks like Al Dente's theory may explain your color shifting clams. Weird!