Ray Collier Country Diary- Food for Free
21st April - Food for Free
"Food for Free" is a phrase that became commonplace on the publication of the book of that name written by Richard Mabey and published in 1972. These days it means different things to different people such as collecting blackthorn sloes to make sloe gin. Others collect brambles - as blackberries are called in the Highlands - to make tea, cordial, wine or syrup. Fungi grow for most of the summer and autumn although you have to be absolutely sure of identification and there are many pitfalls. Rowan berries produce a delicious jelly much loved by people that like venison whilst the nuts of the beech mast make a good coffee. There has been an upsurge of interest in these foods - so often widely available - particularly as a few more books have been published in recent years on the subject. In contrast there is one source of food from the wild that seems to have declined in recent years and these have been in use for a few thousand years - namely shellfish. Many of the early colonists in the Highlands would have settled along the coast where the weather was relatively milder. Various types of shellfish would have been abundant and easily collected between the tides and, when the contents were eaten, shells were discarded and often formed large heaps called middens. Middens on the Isle of Rum have been dated back to a few thousand years and many contained shells and limpets which , in some cases, outnumbered others such as mussels, whelks and cockles. It seems from the evidence of such middens scattered around the coast that limpets were an important source of food. These days you cans still buy cockles and mussels in shops in Inverness - but there is a mystery here as nobody these days seems to be bothered with limpets. This is despite the fact that limpets have twice the calorific value of oysters and four times that of cockles. There are plenty of recipes in old books suggesting this source of food was much valued - so why the disinterest these days? The answer seems to lie in the fact that limpets are time consuming to collect and you only have to try to prise one off the rocks to see why. Limpets may seem to be permanently glued to the rocks and they are so firmly attached that over the years - they can live up to 16 years - the stout shell actually forms a depression on the rock. This slight depression matches the outline of the shell perfectly and this has two main advantages. The strong muscle within the shell holds it firmly in place so that no predatory bird, such as an oystercatcher, can prise it off the rock. The other advantage is that the close fit means water can be retained - albeit a small amount - within the shell so that the animal does not dry out between the tides. Intriguingly, when the tide is in, the limpet goes wandering off, up to a metre, feeding on algae and seaweed but must return to their own exact spot on the rocks. If limpets are killed off by an oil spillage the rocks soon become covered with young, bright green seaweeds. Equally intriguing is the fact that most limpets start life as males - and change later into females. The spawning occurs between October and December and the young settle below the tide level but gradually move up the shore. Limpets are found anywhere around the coast of the Highlands and Islands where there is a rocky shoreline. The photograph was taken at low water on a rocky shore at Rosemarkie just north east of Inverness on the Black Isle.
"Food for Free" is a phrase that became commonplace on the publication of the book of that name written by Richard Mabey and published in 1972. These days it means different things to different people such as collecting blackthorn sloes to make sloe gin. Others collect brambles - as blackberries are called in the Highlands - to make tea, cordial, wine or syrup. Fungi grow for most of the summer and autumn although you have to be absolutely sure of identification and there are many pitfalls. Rowan berries produce a delicious jelly much loved by people that like venison whilst the nuts of the beech mast make a good coffee. There has been an upsurge of interest in these foods - so often widely available - particularly as a few more books have been published in recent years on the subject. In contrast there is one source of food from the wild that seems to have declined in recent years and these have been in use for a few thousand years - namely shellfish. Many of the early colonists in the Highlands would have settled along the coast where the weather was relatively milder. Various types of shellfish would have been abundant and easily collected between the tides and, when the contents were eaten, shells were discarded and often formed large heaps called middens. Middens on the Isle of Rum have been dated back to a few thousand years and many contained shells and limpets which , in some cases, outnumbered others such as mussels, whelks and cockles. It seems from the evidence of such middens scattered around the coast that limpets were an important source of food. These days you cans still buy cockles and mussels in shops in Inverness - but there is a mystery here as nobody these days seems to be bothered with limpets. This is despite the fact that limpets have twice the calorific value of oysters and four times that of cockles. There are plenty of recipes in old books suggesting this source of food was much valued - so why the disinterest these days? The answer seems to lie in the fact that limpets are time consuming to collect and you only have to try to prise one off the rocks to see why. Limpets may seem to be permanently glued to the rocks and they are so firmly attached that over the years - they can live up to 16 years - the stout shell actually forms a depression on the rock. This slight depression matches the outline of the shell perfectly and this has two main advantages. The strong muscle within the shell holds it firmly in place so that no predatory bird, such as an oystercatcher, can prise it off the rock. The other advantage is that the close fit means water can be retained - albeit a small amount - within the shell so that the animal does not dry out between the tides. Intriguingly, when the tide is in, the limpet goes wandering off, up to a metre, feeding on algae and seaweed but must return to their own exact spot on the rocks. If limpets are killed off by an oil spillage the rocks soon become covered with young, bright green seaweeds. Equally intriguing is the fact that most limpets start life as males - and change later into females. The spawning occurs between October and December and the young settle below the tide level but gradually move up the shore. Limpets are found anywhere around the coast of the Highlands and Islands where there is a rocky shoreline. The photograph was taken at low water on a rocky shore at Rosemarkie just north east of Inverness on the Black Isle.
posted by Corinne @ 9:33 AM
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