Limpets

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
In Archaeology we are told that the nutritional equivalent of one red deer is 31,360 limpets or 156,800 cockles.
I think it must be up there with the rabbit starvation thing.

Thing is that even children can gather shellfish while they might not be ready to take down a deer.

So, nutritious, but really only in quantity.
Gathering shellfish is hard cold and tiring work. Looks easy, but I reckon if there were any other food available that folks would have gone for it rather than all those in the shell middens/mounds.

Then again, I can't eat shellfish, but my brother says they're tasty, so maybe they were just the peanuts/popcorn of the past :)
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,794
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Exmoor
Limpets are only good for bait in my humble opinion.! Give me limpits, and I will use them to catch some nice tasty, and nutritional crabs or prawns.
No contest.!
 

Ystranc

Settler
May 24, 2019
535
404
55
Powys, Wales
I’ve eaten limpets cooked in a flash fire, they were ok but then again I’m not a fussy eater. I would be wary of eating them raw, depending on where they were gathered.
 

Wander

Native
Jan 6, 2017
1,418
1,986
Here There & Everywhere
I like limpets.
They have the same taste and texture as whelks. So if you like one you'll like the other.

We cooked them by placing them on a flat stone then piling coals on top. Give them 5 minutes and eat.
52896469779_3778143639_z.jpg
 

FerlasDave

Full Member
Jun 18, 2008
1,857
621
Off the beaten track
In Archaeology we are told that the nutritional equivalent of one red deer is 31,360 limpets or 156,800 cockles.
I think it must be up there with the rabbit starvation thing.

Thing is that even children can gather shellfish while they might not be ready to take down a deer.

So, nutritious, but really only in quantity.
Gathering shellfish is hard cold and tiring work. Looks easy, but I reckon if there were any other food available that folks would have gone for it rather than all those in the shell middens/mounds.

Then again, I can't eat shellfish, but my brother says they're tasty, so maybe they were just the peanuts/popcorn of the past :)

I guess what we don’t know is what the stocks were like back then. Similarly to fish stocks we could have had 3/4 times the amount we have today, that would make things easier.
 
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1 pot hunter

Banned
Oct 24, 2022
379
87
31
Sheffield
In Archaeology we are told that the nutritional equivalent of one red deer is 31,360 limpets or 156,800 cockles.
I think it must be up there with the rabbit starvation thing.

Thing is that even children can gather shellfish while they might not be ready to take down a deer.

So, nutritious, but really only in quantity.
Gathering shellfish is hard cold and tiring work. Looks easy, but I reckon if there were any other food available that folks would have gone for it rather than all those in the shell middens/mounds.

Then again, I can't eat shellfish, but my brother says they're tasty, so maybe they were just the peanuts/popcorn of the past :)
Shellfish store energy in form glycogen oysters in particular store a lot sugars for winter n can be v sweet,this energy is destroyed on cooking though
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
I have old recipes for what we would now called stews, but contain things like whole wee birds, hares, and oysters, all cooked in a lidded cauldron, I wonder if cooking the limpets and then letting them stew would end up relaxing the muscle (which is really all it is that's edible) enough to stop it being like a wee dod of rubber.
 
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