Barnacle

Percebes, as barnacles are known in Galicia where they are most celebrated, are one of the most labour-intensive and expensive seafood products in the world. Acorn barnacles of the species Pollicipes pollicipes are harvested by hand from exposed Atlantic rocks at low tide, a dangerous occupation that gives the best specimens their distinctive flavour from the pounding surf they inhabit. The Galician rías, the coasts of northern Portugal, and the Atlantic shores of Morocco produce the most prized percebes. They are boiled in salted water and eaten immediately, and their appearance in tinned form is a minor miracle of preservation. Agromar in Asturias is among the few producers to tin sea urchin and barnacles successfully. Commands some of the highest per-kilo prices of any European seafood.