A mollusk with a gift for emperors and kings. Tasty too!

This type of purpura mollusk is called porphura (dated Greek word for ‘purple’, pronounced ‘porfeera’). In ancient times, these mollusks were used to extract the color purple, which was then used to dye the clothes of kings and emperors. The practice is 3,000 years old. ‘Porfeero’ is the Greek name of this special, royal shade of deep purple. Those with royal blood were once called ‘porfeerogenitos’ which means ‘born of the purple color’. According to Pliny, this color shade resembled coagulated blood. It is recorded in Homer’s works and in Greek mythology too. Zeus recognised and saved Perseus because he wore this color. Theseus proved that he was of royal descent by appearing dressed in this color before King Minos.

Nowadays, the use of the porphura mollusks to the Greeks is limited to being a meze, a rare one I presume, as perhaps it may be illegal to extract them from the sea for trade (like is definitely the case for ‘achinos’, i.e. sea urchins, and the oblong mollusks called ‘petrosolines’).

Still, porphuras often stick to the nets, and the fishermen tend to keep a few when that happens, just enough to enjoy with their ouzo 🙂

I got this small batch from a local fisherman once, as a gift. Never before in my life had I cooked so many and I hadn’t had them in decades. As a child, I was forever looking for porphuras during my swims in the local beaches. Back then, there were many in the shallows, simply sitting on the sand in plain sight. So, I’d catch just two or three, wash them well and boil them at home in a ‘briki,’ the tiny pot for Greek coffee. Then, I’d extract the flesh from the shells and eat it warm with a slice of bread.

As you can see in the photograph, something long and pointy is necessary to extract the flesh from the shell after they’ve been cooked. Those ouzo forks are the best for the job, but one can try with a tweezers too, though I don’t think it would prove as efficient. Smashing the shells after cooking them with a small rock is the last resort. In this case, it is necessary to wash the flesh well to make sure there are no remnants from the shell.

I don’t enjoy eating these cold, but others have them straight from the fridge – after boiling them, of course, because the flesh is very hard to eat raw. The more they boil, the softer they get. Allow at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours. Once cool, they can be kept in the fridge in a tub with olive oil and vinegar. They last for about a week or so. To have them warm straight after boiling, try them neat or with some lemon juice.

They’re also very nice with this dressing prepared in a blender: Olive oil, crushed garlic clove, lemon juice, parsley.

I can almost see some of you flinching right now, LOL! Not everyone would be willing to eat a mollusk, I guess. But, at least, now you know how the kings and queens of the past had their clothes dyed, huh! 😛

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