Saturday, December 31, 2005
Remis or Pehkia
Hello everybody,
Fancy going to the beach this Sunday?
Remis or Pehkia, it is the same, delicious.
The remis or pehkia is one of the most valued local shell-fish.
It is not obtainable at the market. It is usually harvested by
those who are in the know about it, quite esoteric to these
sea food lovers.
It is most delicious when fried with chilli, garlic and onion.
Another way is to pickle it in black sauce with some fresh
chilli. It will be ready for consumption after several days,
just like that. A late auntie of mine used to come all the way
from Oxford Road to our place near Parbury Avenue to
harvest it at the beach in the 1950s and 1960s.
The remis or pehkia is a small mollusc. Its adult size is about
2.5 cm. long, 1.5 cm. wide and less than 1 cm. thick. It is a
very beautiful and clean clam. Its shell is like limestone,
smooth and colourful, albeit with streaks of one or two colours
only. When it is opened, it looks like a beautiful butterfly,
shaped somewhat like the leaves of the bauhinia plant.
Its habitat is at the lower part of the beach and it lies about
a couple of cm. below the sand surface at low tide. It cannot
be spotted, but it can be exposed by scraping the surface of
the sand about a couple of cm. In the old days, people used
a piece of coconut shell to scrape the sand, but I fashioned
my own scraper out of perspex, custom-made and fitting. An
expert harvester works fast, not needing to look at the spot
being scraped, but by listening to the sound made when the
scraper hits the remis, picking it up and putting it in the
coconut shell container.
While the remis is delicious to eat, its shell has another use.
Because of its cleanness, texture and colour, and their varying
size, mosaics can be made out of them. People who are
artistically inclined, made pictures, landscapes, etc. by gluing
them to a board. Children used to play games with these shells.
This remis or pehkia is not extinct. It can still be harvested
along the beaches parallel to the East Coast Parkway, from the
Lagoon to near Parkway Parade. My favourite spots are between
the breakwaters there. Sometimes, due to over harvesting, only
the little ones are left. These grow up in time, it is only a matter
of timing. Also, one needs to know the time of the tides, the low
tides before the tide ebbs fully and rises again. A good time this
Sunday is from 2 to 7 pm. as the tide goes down and comes back.
Happy pehkia hunting,
Ronald
Fancy going to the beach this Sunday?
Remis or Pehkia, it is the same, delicious.
The remis or pehkia is one of the most valued local shell-fish.
It is not obtainable at the market. It is usually harvested by
those who are in the know about it, quite esoteric to these
sea food lovers.
It is most delicious when fried with chilli, garlic and onion.
Another way is to pickle it in black sauce with some fresh
chilli. It will be ready for consumption after several days,
just like that. A late auntie of mine used to come all the way
from Oxford Road to our place near Parbury Avenue to
harvest it at the beach in the 1950s and 1960s.
The remis or pehkia is a small mollusc. Its adult size is about
2.5 cm. long, 1.5 cm. wide and less than 1 cm. thick. It is a
very beautiful and clean clam. Its shell is like limestone,
smooth and colourful, albeit with streaks of one or two colours
only. When it is opened, it looks like a beautiful butterfly,
shaped somewhat like the leaves of the bauhinia plant.
Its habitat is at the lower part of the beach and it lies about
a couple of cm. below the sand surface at low tide. It cannot
be spotted, but it can be exposed by scraping the surface of
the sand about a couple of cm. In the old days, people used
a piece of coconut shell to scrape the sand, but I fashioned
my own scraper out of perspex, custom-made and fitting. An
expert harvester works fast, not needing to look at the spot
being scraped, but by listening to the sound made when the
scraper hits the remis, picking it up and putting it in the
coconut shell container.
While the remis is delicious to eat, its shell has another use.
Because of its cleanness, texture and colour, and their varying
size, mosaics can be made out of them. People who are
artistically inclined, made pictures, landscapes, etc. by gluing
them to a board. Children used to play games with these shells.
This remis or pehkia is not extinct. It can still be harvested
along the beaches parallel to the East Coast Parkway, from the
Lagoon to near Parkway Parade. My favourite spots are between
the breakwaters there. Sometimes, due to over harvesting, only
the little ones are left. These grow up in time, it is only a matter
of timing. Also, one needs to know the time of the tides, the low
tides before the tide ebbs fully and rises again. A good time this
Sunday is from 2 to 7 pm. as the tide goes down and comes back.
Happy pehkia hunting,
Ronald
# posted by chunmu @ 5:36 PM 
