A misty Galician ría with wooden mussel rafts floating in calm water, a woman in waders raking cockles on the tidal flat in the foreground, and a granary and stone houses on the green shore

Galicia's Rías Guide: Where Spain's Shellfish Tins Begin

Published 9 Sep 20264 min read

Filed under Tinned Fish Ramón Peña Galicia

Look at a map of Spain's northwest corner and the coastline looks torn. Long fingers of sea reach inland between green hills, and each one is a ría, a branching inlet cut by a river along its lower course and later drowned by the sea. The Rías Baixas are four funnel-shaped inlets on the Galician coast. Shellfish grow in them the way grass grows in Ireland. Mussels, cockles, clams and razor clams all come out of these inlets, and canneries have worked their shores since the nineteenth century.

This guide follows a Galician shellfish tin back to the water it came from. The Conservas de Cambados guide and the Fangst and Ramón Peña guide go inside individual houses.

The rías

Upwelling feeds these waters. Along this coast it typically runs from April to October, lifting colder, nutrient-rich water from the bottom of the ocean. Mussels filter feed on phytoplankton and other suspended particles, so they grow on what the water brings. The Ría de Arousa is the largest of the Rías Baixas, and the towns of Cambados, O Grove and A Illa de Arousa stand in the Salnés district beside it.

The rafts

Out on the water sit the bateas, floating rafts. The Ría de Arousa alone holds more than 2,400 of them, each with hundreds of ropes hanging down into the water. Mussels attach to the ropes, which hang in the water column. The Arousa rafts produce about 40 percent of Europe's mussels, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.

The people on the flats

Cockles and clams are gathered on foot along the shore by the mariscadoras, licensed shellfish gatherers. Of the roughly 3,700 professionals who gather shellfish on foot, more than 70 percent are women, according to the Xunta de Galicia. The local cofradías, the fishing guilds, and other shellfish organisations work the beds under management plans approved by the regional government. Galicia's first three-year general plan for shellfish approved 94 management plans for the guilds and other shellfish organisations: 52 for gathering on foot, 35 from boats and seven mixed.

Razor clams are taken differently. In Galicia, divers harvest them from their vertical burrows. The regional government describes diving for marine resources as a significant activity on the Galician coast, and it lists razor clams among the species involved, along with sea urchins and seaweed. The razor clams guide explains the species behind the names navaja and longueirón.

The canneries

Canning houses were built along these shores. At Bueu, on the Ría de Pontevedra, the Museo Massó occupies the premises of the old Massó Hermanos canning factory, and part of the factory buildings built in 1883 still stands. Among the Galician houses packing shellfish today are Conservas de Cambados (shop Conservas de Cambados clams) and Ramón Peña (shop Ramón Peña mussels in pickled sauce). The Cambados range also includes razor shells in brine. For the general method, the A Day at the Cannery guide covers a working line from dock to sealed tin.

Galician shellfish tins are graded by the number of pieces inside, printed on the label as a range, and fewer pieces means larger shellfish and a higher price per tin. The tinned fish label guide reads the rest of the label line by line. A low-count tin holds fewer, larger pieces that suit eating whole from the tin; a higher count spreads more, smaller pieces through a pasta or a pan of rice. The Ramón Peña mussels above are labelled 8 to 10 pieces, and the Cambados clams 20 to 30.

Eating it at home

Simple works best. Try a tin of clams or razor clams opened and eaten with a fork, a squeeze of lemon and good bread, with a glass of Albariño or a cold beer, in the aperitif hour the vermut hour guide describes. The same inlets are wine country, and the D.O. Rías Baixas is where, in the appellation's own words, the Albariño grape reaches its greatest potential.

Mussels in pickled sauce make a small plate on their own, with toothpicks and a slice of bread to catch the sauce. For a warm dish, simmer a tin of clams into fregola, following the fregola with clams recipe. For a table of several tins tasted from light to rich, the tinned fish tasting guide sets out the evening. For more cooking at home, the heirloom beans cooking guide and the pimentón and smoked paprika guide pick up where the tins leave off.

Bringing the ría home

A Galician tin, a lemon, a good loaf and something cold and bitter is the whole idea. Keep a tin of clams in the pantry for the evening that needs rescuing. To browse the tins by house, start with the tinned fish collection (shop tinned fish). The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and products ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com. The people on the flats and on the rafts did the hard part.

See also: Spanish food gift ideas, from Galician tins to a paella kit.