Traditional seafood

Albeit on a small scale, it is still possible to witness the art of shellfish gatherers harvesting in the fertile estuaries of the rivers, Alvor and Formosa, and to explore rocks and headland on the seashore in search of molluscs - a delight for Portuguese and tourists alike.

Gathering donax clams is carried out on the seabed using a belt and a drag bag, while cockles are collected by scraping the sandbanks and headlands with any flat iron implement.  Clams, essential for the Algarvian xerém dish, are common along river beds and are dug out of the mud or sand with a shovel.

Barnacles, found in clusters on rocks of Costa Vicentina, are difficult to dislodge whereas mussels are harvested from limestone rocks and the mouth of rivers and streams.

Molluscs or periwinkles are small sea snails which live in rocks near the ocean and are harvested underwater, as are Moroccan cockles (Acanthocardia tuberculata, also called in Portuguese, amêijoas pata-de-burro) which are only found on this coastal area.  Razor clams are gathered with an adriça, a kind of metal stick which is inserted into the holes where the clams live.