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A walker discovered an alien-looking sea creature washed up on a British beach, and it could have been worth a small fortune.
The rare barnacles are served as a luxury treat at high-end seafood restaurants and can command high prices of up to £80 a kilo.
And the tiny sea creatures were found clinging to a tree trunk after it came ashore at Newgale, Pembrokeshire, in recent storms.
Ruth Crofts found the barnacles wrapped around the trunk on one of her walks.
And the tiny sea creatures were found clinging to a tree trunk after it came ashore at Newgale, Pembrokeshire, in recent storms.
The tiny shellfish are served as a delicacy in Spain and Portugal. They are prepared by cooking them in seawater and adding a bay leaf to give them a special aroma.
She said: ‘I saw the exotic traveler in Newgale after it was obviously blown away by high winds.
‘Because of the shape of its base, I thought it was a palm tree or a coconut tree.
It is very evident that he has been at sea for a considerable time.
“It had been colonized by a large number of barnacles and it really was quite a sight on the shingle bank.”
The tiny shellfish are served as a delicacy in Spain and Portugal.
Its position as a delicacy is what helps drive its prices so high.
Barnacles -like so many other delicacies- are eaten without many additions.
They are prepared by cooking them in seawater and adding a bay leaf to give it a special aroma.
Seafood fans say they taste a bit like the sea.
They are often found attached to rocks, boats, ropes, or flotsam in the sea.
In appearance, they have a long fleshy stem that looks like a neck and a chalky white hard shell that houses the main body with its legs.
The creatures are generally found along the North American coast.
However, it is believed that they were found in West Wales as a result of the Gulf Stream and also recent extremely strong winds which likely blew the tree trunk with them ashore.
Experts believe that Pembrokeshire shellfish may have been too small for dining tables.
They also said that the barnacles were washed for too long to be edible, so they are no longer fetching high prices as a delicacy.
British chef Gordon Ramsay has featured goose barnacles in his Channel 4 series The F Word.
Experts believe that Pembrokeshire shellfish may have been too small for dining tables.
British chef Gordon Ramsay has featured goose barnacles in his Channel 4 series The F Word
He also recommends cooking them in salt water with bay leaves. In addition, he suggests adding a little olive oil to the cooking water and cooking the delicacy for just one minute, “the time it takes to say the Our Father,” he added.
During the third season, he found out firsthand how dangerous barnacle harvesting is.
He also recommends cooking them in salt water with bay leaves.
In addition, he suggests adding a little olive oil to the cooking water and cooking the delicacy for only one minute, “the time it takes to say the Our Father,” he added.
Chef Ramsay shared his secret to getting barnacles out of their shells: peel them while they’re hot.
To serve them, he cooked a cherry sauce with charlottes, bay leaves, fresh pepper, a touch of cherry wine, a couple of tablespoons of cream, a little lemon zest, the juice of one lemon and a couple of tablespoons of water. of cooking. of the barnacles.
She put the barnacles with some fresh parsley in the pan to cook for a minute, but warned to get them out quickly as cooking them in the hot pan makes them taste like a ‘rubber band bite’.