‘The natives of this vicinity have recently begun to offer for sale
bottles filled with oysters--not ‘natives’--separated from the shell,
and floating in their own liquor. The unlimited supply of this
delicious food, obtainable on the coast, now that the natives have
acquired a notion of the trade, will enable many, to whom oysters had
become things of memory, to renew again ‘the days of auld lang syne.’
The shells are so firmly attached to the rocks, that we do not think it
would pay white men to follow this pursuit; at all events, they could
not afford to sell the oysters cheap enough for extensive use. But the
somewhat rough process adopted by ‘our coloured brethren’ (or rather
‘sisters,’ we believe), though it destroys the beauty of the fish, does
not injure its flavour, which we can pronounce to be equal to that of
the ‘real native’ of the British seas.’
Mussels are chiefly eaten by the lower classes, but they are also
largely employed for bait, which all marine animals will take; some
millions of them are used for this purpose at the fishing stations. In
one district alone, their value for this object is £13,000.
A choice kind of large mussel, known under the name of Hambleton
hookers, is taken out of the sea, and fattened in the Wyre, Lancashire,
within reach of the tide.
Some of the mussels found along parts of the South American coasts,
especially the Magellanic, and the Falkland Islands, are very large,
about six inches long, by three broad. Dr. Pernety, in his _Journal of
the Voyage to the Malouine islands_, says,
‘We more than once attempted to eat some of these, but found them so
full of pearls that it was impossible to chew them; the pearls being
very hard, endangered the breaking of our teeth, and when they were
broken in pieces, they left a kind of sand in the mouth, which was very
disagreeable.’
Several species of gapers are used as food, both in Britain and on
the Continent, as the _Mya arenaria_, known to the fishermen about
Southampton by the whimsical name of _old maids_--in some parts of
England and Ireland they are much used; and the _Mya truncata_,
which is very plentiful in the northern islands, where it is called
_Smurslin_, when boiled forms a supper dish. Though not so delicate as
some of the other shell fish eaten, it is by no means unpalatable.
The scallop was held in high estimation by the ancients, and is still
sought for in Catholic countries. The _Pecten maximus_ is frequently
used in England. When pickled and barrelled for sale, it is esteemed a
great delicacy. Another species, the _Pecten opercularis_, is employed
for culinary purposes in Cornwall, where it is known by the name of
frills, or queens. To our list of bivalves may be added the _Mactra
solida_, which is used as food by the common people about Dartmouth,
and the _Venus pullastra_, called by the inhabitants of Devonshire,
pullet, and eaten by them.
Large clams and mussels are eaten in the United States, but in the
Lower British American Provinces they are principally used as bait for
fish. The scallops are also of very large size, and are more commonly
eaten than they are with us.
Scalloped oysters, although very dainty eating, are most indigestible.
The business of digging clams is engaged in by a large number of
persons on the North American coasts. There are two varieties,
distinguished as the hard shell and the soft shell. They are eaten
largely in spring, when they are in the best condition. Clams are much
prized by persons residing at a distance from the sea coast, and they
are frequently sent into the interior, where they meet a ready sale,
as they can be sold at a very low price. They are salted and preserved
in barrels, and used by fishermen as bait for cod-fish. For many years
past the digging and salting of clams for the Boston market has been
an important business. These shell-fish abound in the extensive flats
at the mouths of some of the rivers. The flats are daily covered by
the tide, and afford the feeding ground which the clams require. Clams
multiply with astonishing rapidity: they are dug in the winter and
spring. The business furnishes employment for men and boys, that in
former years were occupied in winter fishing. The work is done, of
course, at low water. When the tide is out, on pleasant winter days,
one will often see gangs of 10, 20, or 50 men and boys busily employed
in turning up the mud on the flats, picking up the clams, and putting
them into buckets. The implement which they use is a stout fork with
three flat prongs, each about an inch wide, and 10 or 12 inches long.
The men go out on the flats in wherries, when the tide is retiring, and
push an oar into the mud, and make fast the boat to it, and as soon
as the water has left the boat, commence operations. When a bucket is
filled, it is emptied into the boat. They continue their work until the
tide comes in again sufficiently to float the boat, when they pull to
the wharf. On many places on the shores of these flats there are groups
of small huts, 10 or 12 feet square, with stone chimnies running up
on the outside, furnished within with a small stove and two or three
stools for seats. The clams are deposited in these huts, and in those
parts of the day when the tide is in, so that the men cannot work out
on the flats, and in stormy weather, they are employed in ‘shocking’
them, as it is called, that is, in opening the shell and taking out the
clam, which is done with a small stout knife. As the clams are taken
from the shell, they are dropped into a bucket; when the bucket is
filled, they are emptied into a barrel. Around these huts, it is not
uncommon to see heaps of clam shells larger than the huts themselves,
the accumulation of the winter’s labour. The clam diggers sell the
produce of their labour to traders, who send their teams round to the
huts weekly or daily, according to the weather, carry them to their
store-houses, and repack and salt them, and head them up in barrels,
when they are ready for the market.
A species of _Murex_ (_M. loco_) is highly esteemed in Chile. It is
very white and of a delicious taste, but rather tough; and in order to
render it tender, it is generally beaten with a small stick before it
is cooked.
The periwinkle (_Turbo littoreus_) is more extensively used as food
than any of the other testaceous univalves. It would hardly be supposed
that so trifling an article of consumption as periwinkles could form
a matter of extensive traffic; but the quantity consumed annually in
London has been estimated at 76,000 baskets, weighing 1,900 tons, and
valued at £15,000. This well-known mollusc is found on all the rocks
and shores of our own islands which are left uncovered by the tide, and
also in America and other countries.
The cockneys and their visitors are deeply indebted to the industrious
inhabitants of Kerara, near Oban, for a plenteous treat of this rather
vulgar luxury; and the Kerarans are no less obliged to the Londoners
for a never-failing market, for what now appears to be their general
staple article. They are gathered by the poor people, who get 6_d._ a
bushel for collecting them. From Oban they are forwarded to Glasgow,
and thence to Liverpool, _en route_ to London. Very few are retained in
transit, better profits being obtained in London, even after paying so
much sea and land carriage.
Every week there are probably 30 tons or more of this insignificant
edible sent up to London, from Glasgow, all of which are collected near
Oban, and must be a means of affording considerable employment, and
diffusing a considerable amount weekly in wages, amongst the numerous
persons employed. The periwinkles are packed in bags, containing from
two to three cwt. each, and keep quite fresh until they arrive at their
ultimate destination. In London they sell at 3_d._ a pint.
Whelks (the _Buccinum undatum_) are another shell-fish which, though
despised on the sea coasts, are a favourite dish, boiled or pickled,
among the poorer classes in the metropolis, as the gusto manifested at
the street-stalls in London evidences. Boys and children of a larger
growth frequently indulge in a ‘hapenny’ or penny saucer of these
dainties. Large quantities of whelks are transmitted from Mull to
London; some steamers from the north bring six or seven tons at a time.
Several species of snails (_Helix_) are employed for culinary purposes.
The largest of these, the _Helix pomatia_, was a favourite dish among
the Romans, who fattened them with bran sodden with wine. They are
still used largely in many parts of Europe, during Lent, after having
been fed with different kinds of herbs. The Africans and Brazilians eat
snails.
The _Helix hortensis_ has also been employed as food, and they are
prescribed medicinally, being administered like slugs in consumptive
cases.
Many are familiar with the passage in Pliny (_Hist._ lib. ix., c. 56),
who, on the authority of Varro, relates the incredible size to which
the art of fattening had brought the snails. Even assuming the snails
were African _Achatina_ or _Bulimi_, there must, one should think,
be some mistake in the text, which says, ‘Cujus artis gloria in eam
magnitudinem perducta sit, ut octoginta quadrantes caperent singularum
calices.’ Pennant, referring to this and to Varro (_De Re Rustica_)
says, ‘If we should credit Varro, they grew so large that the shells of
some would hold ten quarts!’
People need not admire the temperance of the supper of the younger
Pliny (_Epist._ lib. i.; _Epist._ xv.), which consisted of only a
lettuce a-piece, three snails, two eggs, a barley cake, sweet wine and
snow, in case his snails bore any proportion to those of Hirpinus.
Among the pictures in the dressing-rooms at Chiswick House, the seat
of the Duke of Devonshire, there is one, by Murillo, of a beggar boy
eating a snail pie.
The snail is now a very fashionable article of diet in Paris; and has
also spread to America. Snails are eaten in Tuscany and Austria. They
were highly esteemed by the Romans, our masters in gastronomy. In the
provinces of France, where the vine is cultivated, snails of large size
abound. They are gathered by the peasants, put in small pans for a few
days, salt water thrown on them, to cause them to discharge whatever
their stomachs may contain; then boiled, taken out of the shell, and
eaten with a sauce, and considered a luxury by the vine dressers.
There are now 50 restaurants, and more than 1,200 private tables in
Paris, where snails are accepted as a delicacy by from 8,000 to 10,000
consumers. The monthly consumption of this mollusc is estimated at
half a million. The market price of the great vineyard snail is from
2_s._ to 3_s._ per 100; while those of the hedges, woods, and forests,
bring only 1_s._ 6_d._ to 2_s._ The proprietor of one snailery, in the
vicinity of Dijon, is said to clear nearly £300 a year by his snails.
In Switzerland, where there are gardens in which they are fed in many
thousands together, a considerable trade is carried on in them about
the season of Lent; and at Vienna, a few years ago, seven of them were
charged at an inn the same as a plate of veal or beef. The usual modes
of preparing them for the table are either boiling, frying them in
butter, or sometimes stuffing them with force-meat; but in whatever
manner soever they are dressed, it is said their sliminess always in a
great measure remains.
An anecdote is told of Drs. Black and Hutton, which shows how difficult
it is for philosophy to wage a war with prejudice. It chanced that
the two doctors had held some discourse together upon the folly of
abstaining from feeding on the testaceous creatures of the land,
while those of the sea were considered as delicacies. Wherefore not
eat snails?--they are well known to be nutritious and wholesome--even
sanative in some cases. The epicures of olden times enumerated among
the richest and raciest delicacies the snails which were fed in the
marble quarries of Lucca. The Italians still hold them in esteem. In
short, it was determined that a gastronomic experiment should be made
at the expense of the snails. The snails were procured, dieted for a
time, then stewed for the benefit of the two philosophers: who had
either invited no guest to their banquet, or found none who relished in
prospect the _pièce de resistance_. A huge dish of snails was placed
before them; but philosophers are but men after all; and the stomachs
of both doctors began to revolt against the proposed experiment.
Nevertheless, if they looked with disgust on the snails, they retained
their awe for each other; and each conceiving the symptoms of internal
revolt peculiar to himself, began with infinity of exertion to swallow,
in very small quantities, the mess which he internally loathed. Dr.
Black, at length, ‘showed the white feather,’ but in a very delicate
manner, as if to sound the opinion of his messmate:--‘Doctor,’ he said,
in his precise and quiet manner, ‘Doctor--do you not think that they
taste a little--a very little, green?’ ‘Green! green, indeed--take them
awa’, take them awa’,’ vociferated Dr. Hutton, starting up from table,
and giving full vent to his feelings of abhorrence. And so ended all
hopes of introducing snails into their _cuisine_.
At the town of Ulm, in Wurtemburg, on the left bank of the Danube,
snails are fed in great quantities for various markets in Germany and
Austria, but especially for that of Vienna, where they are esteemed a
great delicacy, after having been fed upon strawberries. About 20,000
okes (each nearly 3 lbs.) of snails are annually exported from Crete,
valued at 15,000 Turkish piastres.
The breed of large white snails in England is to be found all along
the escarpment of the chalk range, and is not confined to Surrey. It
is said to have been introduced into England by Sir Kenelm Digby, and
was considered very nutritious and wholesome for consumptive patients.
Indeed, to this day, considerable quantities are sold in Covent Garden
market for this purpose. They are sometimes made into a mucilaginous
broth, and at others swallowed in a raw state.
In the Island of Bourbon, the French use them to make a soup for the
sick.
At Cape Coast Castle the luxuries of the natives are fish soup, made of
dried unsalted fish, and snail soup with land crabs in it; and beyond
Ashantee the food consists of plantains and large snails, 300 or 400 of
which dried on a string sell for a dollar. These snails are the great
African _Achatina_, which are the largest of all land-snails, attaining
a length of eight inches.
A species of barnacle, called the parrot bill (_Balanus psittacus_),
is much esteemed by the inhabitants of Chile. From 10 to 20 of these
animals inhabit as many small separate cells, formed in a pyramid of
a cretaceous substance. These pyramids are usually attached to the
steepest parts of rocks at the water’s edge, and the animal derives its
subsistence from the sea, by means of a little hole at the top of each
cell. The shell consists of six valves, two large and four small; the
large ones project externally in the form of a parrot’s bill, whence
the animal has received its specific name. When detached from the
rocks, they are kept alive in their cells for four or five days, during
which time they occasionally protrude their bills as if to breathe.
They are of different sizes, though the largest do not exceed an inch
in length, and are very white, tender, and excellent eating.[36] Capt.
P. P. King, R.N., confirms this, and says they form a common and highly
esteemed food of the natives, the flesh equalling in richness and
delicacy that of the crab.