Cockles

Cockles 

A cockle is a marine, nutritious bivalve mollusc. While several small edible bivalves are loosely referred to as cockles, true cockles are species within the Cardiidae genus. True cockles exist across the globe in warm, sheltered beaches. The distinctive rounded shells are bilateral symmetrical, and, when viewed from the top, are heart-shaped. There are over 205 species of cockles living here, and many more fossil forms. In Eastern and Western cuisine, cockles are a common form of edible shellfish. At low tide they are gathered by raking them out of the beaches. In the United Kingdom cockles are sold freshly cooked as a snack, particularly in those parts of the British coastline where cockles thrive. Boiled, then seasoned with malt vinegar and white pepper, they can be purchased from seafood stalls, which often also have moulds, whelks, jellied eels, crabs and shrimps for sale.