Kayaking, archipelago, salt water, collecting and preparing your own sea food – is there a better mixture?
A sunny August day our French guests arrived to the boat houses at Heestrand, eager to experience the Mussel, Crab and Oyster Safari. We were as eager as they were.
Equipped with collecting bags, baskets, neopren shoes and life jackets we were ready for the departure. For comfort and safety we chose the three men kayak for our guests.
Sheltered by the islands from the strong west winds, we had a wonderful paddling over the mussel and oyster banks. In the crystal clear water we could observe the life under water. As blue shells are filterers, the poisonous plankton algaes sometimes can make the mussels inedible in summer season. As we didn’t want to take any risks we were just happy to watch them. We paddled out to admire the mighty waves. Refreshed by a snack pause we were ready to paddle to our harvesting bay.
Periwinkles are semi aquatic organisms and live their lives in the waterline. Wonderful and easy food to collect and prepare!
What a day to search food! The sun was shining and the water temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius. Periwinkles, a few seaweed shrimps and some wild herbs on land was the result.
Now to the next stage – a quick ride by motor boat to check our crab pots. It is always exciting. The crab pots lies on the stone bottom at a depth of around 15 metres. They are quite heavy to land. And look – some crabs and some whelks.
Back to the boathouses we prepared our food together. Periwinkles, mussels, whelks and crabs were boiled and the sauce for the crabs was prepared.
Starter – Periwinkles – quickly boiled with garlic, leeks, littorial herbs and white wine.
Second coarse – Blue shells à la Christine – white wine, parsley, onions, garlic. (These were bought at the fishmonger for safety reasons.)
Third coarse – Crabs with our special Swedish sauce – Hovmästarsås. The ingredients are sweet mustard, sugar, oil and loads of fresh dill.
Freshly baked bread was served to all the dishes. There are different ways to “attack” the seafood. For periwinkles you use toothpicks, the blue shells are eaten with your hands and the shell is perfect for the sauce. The best way to get the meat out of a crab is to use a spoon to crack the hard shell.
After a day like this you are happy with life. Nature, physical activity, taking part in nature’s gifts, wonderful food and not to forget meeting new people!
Go periwinkle with us!