Costal Shellfish

[Pappa]

Hi,

I've been thinking of cooking up a beach meal of Limpets, Razorfish, Mussels, etc.; a la Ray Mears' Aboriginal Britain, but I'm a bit concerned about the safety aspects. I've heared that some shellfish store up polutants, and I'm wondering if the shellfish in may area are safe to eat.

I live in Barry, just down the coast From Cardiff, and the sea hasn't exactly got a reputation for being pristine. Aside from the culinary value of limpets, am I being over paranoid?

Thanks,

Pappa

 

[tomtom]

well im eating everything off the beach down here.. and i have an international paints testing station on the river and the MOD re-fitting the tridant subs around the corner in devonport as well as being a fairly busy yachting spot.. and theres nothing wrong with me

seriously.. if your 20 foot from a sewer outlet.. stear clear use common sense if the water looks stagnant stear clear.. otherwise i think your ok!

 

[Motorbike Man]

Your local Environment Agency office should be able to either tell you wether they are safe to eat ot not, or put you in touch with someone who can

 

[Pappa]

Thanks. According to the Environment Agency search, the quality of bathing water in my area is either excellent or good, so I'm happy with that.

I'm trying to instill my 4 year old son with some 'bushcraft values', and I figured, eating beach foragings would be a good place to start.

Pappa

 

[tomtom]

different people handle these things differently.. forageing on the beach was some of my earlyest buscrafting.. i always eat prawns raw from the rockpools and it does nothing to me.. but just the sight of me doing this is enough to make some people ill

 

[bushwacker bob]

well im eating everything off the beach down here.. and i have an international paints testing station on the river and the MOD re-fitting the tridant subs around the corner in devonport as well as being a fairly busy yachting spot.. and theres nothing wrong with me

He does,however, glow in the dark.

 

[Jjv110]

I think that once you have boiled your catch, you should be fine. Things like mussels/razor fish will go a bit tough if you boil them, but at least they'll be safe.
They'll probably be fine if they are just steamed until the shells open as well though. I think a squeeze of lemon juice helps to kill any germs etc.

Happy eating, Julian.

 

[george]

You should be ok with grazers such as limpits pappa - they don't tend to carry so many nasty bacteria as filter feeders like razorfish or mussels - however unless you're absolutely sure of the water quality then I would take care. You can cut down on the chances of nasties by allowing your catch to sit in a bucket of clean water overnight. Razorfish and mussels will wash themselves out with the clean water and will be all the better for it. It's a good way to get rid of most of the grit from them too.

George

 

[grahoom]

did a bit of digging about - as i am interested in eating some shell fish as i saw a load of muscles the other day down on some break waters in climping (west sussex)

http://www.shellfish.org.uk/

some good information.

 

[jdlenton]

Talking about washing out grit from shellfish

When I go carpet shell claming and cockle picking with my dad on the west coast of France where he now lives. We bring the catch home with some big bottles of clean sea water put them in buckets one for the clams and one for the cockles ( I don’t know why we separate them)for few hours in the dark cool garage to settle them in. We then add about half a cup of plain flour to each bucket and leave them for another hour or so, the flour seems make the shellfish spit out all the sand inside them, you can actually see the sand coming out! It doesn’t spoil the taste of the clams and cockles but they end up sand free. I’m wondering if the flour acts like a slight irritant to the shellfish provoking some sort of cleaning response but I don’t really know how it works but it does.

 

[grahoom]

jdlenton

this sounds similiar to what my friends dad does with snails (i have not tried this)

he gathers a load of garden snails and then puts them in to a container with chopped parsley (i think - dry probably, so it is a powder) and other herbs, so that the snails sort of lurk about in there and ingest the parsley, and get rid of a lot of the crap they have inside them - meaning you get to "clean" them out before you eat them.

never tried it - my mate could have made it up, but it seems a similiar idea to what you mentioned.

 

[grahoom]

a quick google search

Is there a special way you cook snails?

What you have to do first with snails is purify them, because -- well, for all you know, they might have just eaten some snail bait. They don't put arsenic in snail bait anymore, but a lot of snail-bait products do contain insecticide, and carbaryl is not something you want to eat.

Typically, the purification ritual lasts for two weeks. You purge snails by feeding them greens or corn meal -- something like that. I just feed them corn meal, and I give them water and I change their food almost daily until I know that their systems are clean.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2003/05/05/urbananimal.DTL

 

[AJB]

Hi,

Gathering and cooking this stuff is something I’ve always wanted to try, but have never got around too. One question though, I’ve seen Hugh Fearnley–Wagonwheel catch and cook razor clams a couple of times and, I think, Ray once. They always seem to do some sly preparation of the cooked meat before you eat it, but they never show it. Which bits can you eat and what do you discard (use for bait)

Thanks

 

[tomtom]

you can eat all of a razor fish to the best of my knolage (appart from the shel of course) its just one big muscle! the stomachs on crustaions and shell fish, if visable (they are easily recognisable) are worth removing these things are the filters of the sea, be sure you have cooked them hot and long!

had lobster for tea today that we caught last night, sea cockroaches taste much better then land ones

 

[Pappa]

Would it be possible to cleanse shellish in tapwater with added table salt (instead of sea water), or would that be daft?

If so, how much salt would you need for say, a bucket of water?

Pappa

 

[raskusdrotti]

Atlantic seawater (1g sodium per 100g, which is 2.5g of salt per 100g)

Water weighs 1g per cm3, so 25g of salt per litre

This should be about the same as seawater.

Incidentally, we always did the flour trick for cockles and butterfish collected "darn sarf"

 

[Jjv110]

Would it be possible to cleanse shellish in tapwater with added table salt (instead of sea water), or would that be daft?

If so, how much salt would you need for say, a bucket of water?

Pappa

I don't understand why you'd want to use salt water to clean the shellfish. Just use normal tap water. No need for added salt.

Julian.

 

[Pappa]

I don't understand why you'd want to use salt water to clean the shellfish. Just use normal tap water. No need for added salt.

Julian.

I just though they might die (like some sea-life) if put in fresh water to clense. But if it's OK to leave them in tapwater, then all the better. Thanks.

Pappa

 

[Jjv110]

Hi Pappa,

I'm not sure how long they'll last in fresh water, but if it only for a short time;ie when you get home to cook them there'll be no problem. In the past I have just collected shellfish from the beach and then gone home, washed them under the tap and eaten them.I don't know how long they'll last out of sea water, but they should be alright in thr fridge for a day.
I suppose if you wanted to keep them for a while, you'd have to store them in sea water. In that case, I don't think putting table salt in a bucket of tap water would simulate the sea, but I may be wrong.

Julian.

 

[Stuart]

Hi Papa

I am about 5 minutes down the coast from you in Rhoose, if you fancy heading out for a coastal forage let me know.