When I was a child, when I was six or seven years old, when I knew that the high tide was running to the shore, adults would rest assured that our friends would go to catch the sea by themselves.
Our village, before all kinds of reclamation and road construction, was a fishing village surrounded by the sea on three sides, with a population of four or five thousand, which should not be regarded as a small fishing village. Almost all male parents in the village have boats, so-called eating by the sea. But the pleasure brought by fishing boats is different from that brought by going to catch the sea when I was a child.
When the tide ebbs, it is the weekend, and friends will make an appointment to go out to sea together. Take a small plastic bucket, a shovel, an iron hook, take care of your little hands, and don't forget to wear a pair of work gloves. My crisp personality always thinks gloves are in the way, so I don't want gloves.
Our sea, without a fine sand beach, is a mudflat, with stones and shells mixed with gravel. Because it is a mudflat, the nearby sea water is not clear and blue, but this does not affect our happy harvest at all.
We don't want to open a stone and all kinds of small crabs that rush away. We mainly collect all kinds of small conch. Snails, sweet snails, spicy snails, and octopus if you are lucky. Of course, there are all kinds of oysters and clams on the beach. I didn't like oysters since I was a child, so I turned a blind eye to them. Clams can be found everywhere as long as they are dug, but we can't dig or pick them up, because any beach we go to catch the sea is contracted by others, and it's no problem to pick up small conch, but stealing others' clams, hehe, will be scolded or even beaten.
But children, as long as there are snails to pick up, are satisfied. As long as you are willing to walk all over the beach, as long as you dig down, dig a crack in the stone and turn the stone over, you will definitely carry a bucket full of small conch when you go home.
Go home and wash it. You don't need to put salt at all. Just add water and it will become a snack. Different little conch, of course, eat differently. When eating snails, you should prepare a beer bottle cap, nail an eye in the middle, and then bend the bottle cap. When eating, put the tip of the snail into that eye, break it off, and then suck it into your mouth, and the snail meat will automatically be sucked into your mouth. But you smoke too much, so your lips are swollen. Who makes you greedy? Sometimes if there is no bottle cap, take the keyhole or clamp it with pliers. Other small sweet snails and spicy snails just pick out the meat with toothpicks or sewing needles. At this time, you have to be patient to pick out a complete piece of snail meat. Of course, snails are sucked one by one, and fragrant snails and spicy snails can be picked and stuffed into their mouths.
All snails are fresh, full of the aroma of the sea and the unique sweetness of snail meat. Take a bite and it will be memorable. Over the years, I have spent half my life, and conch is still my only love among all shellfish.