You can find it on the market and in fishmongers
This is a shellfish similar to a small scallop. Pétoncles start to appear on markets during the month of December. Fishing is not always regular and relies on reproduction rates. New horizons seem to be appearing with the development of black pétoncle farming.
According to historian G. Dez, inhabitants in the region in times gone by already had a taste for seashells as proven by the shell deposits discovered through archaeological excavations.
Under the Ancien Regime, these easy-to-collect seashells continued to provide one of the poor coastal population’s favourite dishes. According to Faideau it ‘dredges along a large bank in winter, located south east of the Ile de Ré, overlooking La Flotte’. But the difficulty of storing pétoncle scallops which, once collected, lose their water; and die very quickly, has restricted the amount of production possible.
These highly sought-after scallops are trawled by boat. The fishing season begins in November and ends in February. Only licensed fishermen have access to this resource.
