Home 
Recipes Side Dishes Periwinkles
Recipes Side Dishes Periwinkles
Periwinkles
Written by Catherine Regan Washek | 
Snails AKA Periwinkles
Cuzzin Catherine
Periwinkles
handful of seaweed
garlic
olive oil
butter
I go to the shores of Frenchmen's Bay, Lamoine, Maine and gather snails from the rocks. This has been a great source of fun all the years our family spent on vacation in Maine. Part of the low tide family gathering is also spent digging clams and pulling mussels from the ocean. I remember one year my mother found a large shell and she made a gourmet treat. After she gave it a quick boil, she added chopped garlic, fresh parsley and a hit of hot pepper. She told me her brother Riley used to make that.
Take a bucket of the ocean water & a handful of bladderwort (this is a type of seaweed) to carry the periwinkles up the hill.
Go to the outside faucet to wash the snails until the cows come home. You need to get them clean. Thoroughly clean the bladderwort too. The seaweed lends a perfect flavor to this appetizer.
Saute several thinly sliced garlic in a small amount of butter and olive oil. Add the cleaned snails and put the seaweed on top; then cover. When you see the snails move out of their shells, they are done. Do not overcook or they will be rubbery and not even the seagulls will be interested.
Sterilize safety pins and common pins. Put the hot snails onto a platter and call the family to eat.