COCKLES

The Cockle (Cardium edule) is a mollusc widely found along the Galician coast. Cockles usually live in the intertidal area, slightly buried in the sand and achieving depths of 10 metres. They also appear on the mouths of the rivers. They are fed with small animals and phytoplakton, that filtres the water through the gills.

They have a quick growing, achieving the commercial size in the first year. The biggest samples may reach a diameter of 4 cm. It’s meat has the typical taste of the sea and it is one of the most representative shellfish of Spain.

Cockles can be eaten in many different ways, both raw and cooked or steamed with a pinch of lemon. It can also be a part of many different recipes. They can go along with rice or any fish dish, soups, salads or creams. In Galicia it is very typical the “Cockles Empanada”.

Cockles are a light food, rich in iodine, iron and proteins. Due to their characteristics, cockles are nutritionally very complete. They provide a great quantity of proteines (about 16 g per 100 g), no carbohydrates, a very little quantity of calories and almost nothing of fat and cholesterol. These characteristics make the cockles a great food to feed without putting on weight. People with high cholesterol or with obesity can eat them. They are specially good during pregnancy due to the quantity of iodine and iron they have.

They are one of the most appreciated canned seafood. The cans of cockles constitute a great starter. They are easy to handle and can be stored during a long time keeping the same qualities. In addition, they can be used at any moment.

The CUCA cockles are specially advisable, because they are hand harvested and they are processed while they are still alive in order to keep their freshness and nutritive qualities and extraordinary flavour. In addition, CUCA guarantees the minimum presence of sand (unavoidable on this kind of seafood) thanks to their exclusive Quality Control. We have a special machine that measures the sand on every production. If the presence of sand is over the minimum we consider optimum, we don’t pack this product under the CUCA brand.




If you want to know more about our cockles, please visit the PRODUCTS section.