Easy shellfish foraging:
Where to look and how to collect.
Any bucket or tub with a handle is a good vessel for carrying the forge in, along with a small net bag. Old onion sacks are ideal and can be used for both carrying and catching with in the flooded gullies and pools. As storms often pound exposed headlands and rocky shore lines most of the larger specimens may have been washed off the rocks. They can be found hiding in the deeper sheltered gullies, sometimes lightly covered with sand or seaweed, especially the larger muscles. Use the end of your foraging stick to carefully poke around the pools and gullies to expose what hides within them.
Note:
Never use your finger for fear of cuts from sharp broken shells, or the nip of an angry crab!
Muscles and winkles can be prised from their footings with relative ease. Limpets need slightly more persuasion to retrieve with a good swift strike needed from the stick or suitable pebble. If you fail to remove them with the first blow leave them alone as the initial shock will cause them to hold fast and firm, making them almost impossible to remove in one piece, not only resulting in wasting valuable energy but also smashing them to smithereens. Dont worry if you do, save them for bait for hooks or fish traps.
When to forage:
During the warm summer months or the months without an Rs in, shell fish is traditionally reputed to be unsuitable. This takes its foundation from 2 sources, firstly that months without Rs are generally speaking the summer months when higher concentrations of blooms and algaes are present. These sometimes contain slightly toxic bacterial properties, sometimes referred to by fisherman as May rot. Secondly during hot weather the complex proteins of shellfish bio-degrades quickly and therefore in times before refrigeration it would not have been possible to transport the shell fish safely over great distances. If you do want to transport you find home a cool bag and ice packs are ideal. Cover your shell fish in wet seaweed or a damp cloth.
Note: They will die is submerged in water, or if allowed to dry out.
One of the best times to forage are on or around a new or full moon on the Spring tides. This is when the tide is at its highest and also its lowest, exposing more of the rocks, gullies and deep pools
'Preparing and cooking'
Note: never collect or eat shell fish that are not obviously alive or firmly attached to the rocks. In regard to muscles or bi-valves also including scallops and oysters, these should always be firmly closed when alive and should open when cooked.
If the shell fish is to be boiled in a pan, the shell must first be scraped and scrubbed in the sand or gravel before cooking.
The convenient thing about shellfish regarding cooking in a bush craft situation is that the shells act as individual cooking vessels. Muscles can be placed around the edge of the fire until they open and are cooked. Dont put them on top of the fire as they hold within them seawater which will put out the fire as they open. Winkles can be cooked on either hot rocks or cooked directly in the embers if no pan is available, simply boiling them for a few minutes in salt water is ideal. They will require a small pin or large thorn to persuade them from their shell.
Limpets when up turned can easily be laid along smouldering logs and will cook simply in their shell with their own juices. When cooked they will become detached from their shell as they shrink slightly. The dark part or intestines in the crown of the shell can now be easily removed from the thick muscular part you eat, this is the part that holds it to the rock. (some people eat the stomach)
All the internal parts of the muscle excluding the beard can be eaten, the beard is the stringy part with which the muscle attaches itself to the rock. This can removed prior to cooking with a firm tug.
There is nothing finer then a foraged shell fish breakfast, the clean delicate proteins are easily digestible and their rich mineral contents leave you feeling clean and energised.
Recipe suggestion.
The Mussels are cleaned and placed to cover the bottom of a pan, loosely pile on top with leafs of Sea beet or Wild Spinach . Cover with a lid and cook gently for approx 5 minutes or until the mussels are fully open. The water in the mussels will steam the sea beet perfectly. ( One of my favourite foraging breakfasts)
Note: always insure the area you forage is free from man made pollutants, estuaries may contain reminisce of industrial activity such as heavy metal deposits and pollutants.
Where to look and how to collect.
Any bucket or tub with a handle is a good vessel for carrying the forge in, along with a small net bag. Old onion sacks are ideal and can be used for both carrying and catching with in the flooded gullies and pools. As storms often pound exposed headlands and rocky shore lines most of the larger specimens may have been washed off the rocks. They can be found hiding in the deeper sheltered gullies, sometimes lightly covered with sand or seaweed, especially the larger muscles. Use the end of your foraging stick to carefully poke around the pools and gullies to expose what hides within them.
Note:
Never use your finger for fear of cuts from sharp broken shells, or the nip of an angry crab!
Muscles and winkles can be prised from their footings with relative ease. Limpets need slightly more persuasion to retrieve with a good swift strike needed from the stick or suitable pebble. If you fail to remove them with the first blow leave them alone as the initial shock will cause them to hold fast and firm, making them almost impossible to remove in one piece, not only resulting in wasting valuable energy but also smashing them to smithereens. Dont worry if you do, save them for bait for hooks or fish traps.
When to forage:
During the warm summer months or the months without an Rs in, shell fish is traditionally reputed to be unsuitable. This takes its foundation from 2 sources, firstly that months without Rs are generally speaking the summer months when higher concentrations of blooms and algaes are present. These sometimes contain slightly toxic bacterial properties, sometimes referred to by fisherman as May rot. Secondly during hot weather the complex proteins of shellfish bio-degrades quickly and therefore in times before refrigeration it would not have been possible to transport the shell fish safely over great distances. If you do want to transport you find home a cool bag and ice packs are ideal. Cover your shell fish in wet seaweed or a damp cloth.
Note: They will die is submerged in water, or if allowed to dry out.
One of the best times to forage are on or around a new or full moon on the Spring tides. This is when the tide is at its highest and also its lowest, exposing more of the rocks, gullies and deep pools
'Preparing and cooking'
Note: never collect or eat shell fish that are not obviously alive or firmly attached to the rocks. In regard to muscles or bi-valves also including scallops and oysters, these should always be firmly closed when alive and should open when cooked.
If the shell fish is to be boiled in a pan, the shell must first be scraped and scrubbed in the sand or gravel before cooking.
The convenient thing about shellfish regarding cooking in a bush craft situation is that the shells act as individual cooking vessels. Muscles can be placed around the edge of the fire until they open and are cooked. Dont put them on top of the fire as they hold within them seawater which will put out the fire as they open. Winkles can be cooked on either hot rocks or cooked directly in the embers if no pan is available, simply boiling them for a few minutes in salt water is ideal. They will require a small pin or large thorn to persuade them from their shell.
Limpets when up turned can easily be laid along smouldering logs and will cook simply in their shell with their own juices. When cooked they will become detached from their shell as they shrink slightly. The dark part or intestines in the crown of the shell can now be easily removed from the thick muscular part you eat, this is the part that holds it to the rock. (some people eat the stomach)
All the internal parts of the muscle excluding the beard can be eaten, the beard is the stringy part with which the muscle attaches itself to the rock. This can removed prior to cooking with a firm tug.
There is nothing finer then a foraged shell fish breakfast, the clean delicate proteins are easily digestible and their rich mineral contents leave you feeling clean and energised.
Recipe suggestion.
The Mussels are cleaned and placed to cover the bottom of a pan, loosely pile on top with leafs of Sea beet or Wild Spinach . Cover with a lid and cook gently for approx 5 minutes or until the mussels are fully open. The water in the mussels will steam the sea beet perfectly. ( One of my favourite foraging breakfasts)
Note: always insure the area you forage is free from man made pollutants, estuaries may contain reminisce of industrial activity such as heavy metal deposits and pollutants.