Not from Palamós nor from Vilanova: the best red prawns are from a single place

As we approach the best time of year to eat prawns (Aristeus antennatus), in June, it's time to explain that the parental authority over red prawns lies with the Mediterranean. Not the port of Vilanova, nor Palamós, nor Blanes, nor Tarragona. The decapod crustacean that is the prima donna of our gastronomy moves tirelessly from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, and no one can scientifically say that it has spent its life in any specific town. The red prawn has no place of residence because it is nomadic: one day it's from Blanes and another day it's from Cambrils, for example.In a few days, the prawns will have a lilac-colored head (actually the cephalothorax, where the stomach is). This will mean they are females and are about to expel their eggs, which will be fertilized in the sea, and this might happen in Dénia. When the eggs are released into the sea, they will become larvae, and then the sea currents may transport them to Tarragona. Moving from place to place, they may have formed their exoskeleton in Vilanova, and also increased in size. And, finally, they may arrive, adult, in Palamós, ready to reproduce. We could explain the cycle in reverse: the egg could have been released in Palamós; the larva, in Vilanova, and the adult stage, in Dénia. And whoever says Palamós, Vilanova, or Dénia, also means other coastal towns. Therefore, it's anecdotal to say that the best prawns are from a fishing port, because they are all the same. Furthermore, there is no scientific basis for saying that prawns from the Costa Brava have an orangey hue "because in reality the red prawn has a predominantly transparent or white hue when alive, and once caught, the intensity and extent of its color gradually increases over hours and days," states scientist Arnau Subías, who runs the @gastrobio Instagram account. The only thing that indicates an orangey or red color in the prawn is how long it has been caught.

If they have a lilac head, the abdomen is tense and fleshy

At this point, I will pick up the thread of the purple heads of the prawns, because it will then be the best time to eat them. It is the moment when their abdomen (what we popularly call the body) is firm, fleshy, and very tasty. It has high quality because the female prawn has eggs in its body, which will be fertilized in the sea, which is why it is so good. When she has expelled them, the abdomen will lose quality, but this does not mean that we cannot enjoy it, because for a large part of the year we eat them like this. And, to finish, we should know that our prima donna is no longer exclusive to the Mediterranean. This is the great news of recent years because scientists have recorded it in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. “We have capture data on the west coast of Portugal, in Africa, in Mauritania, the Canary Islands, the Azores; and in the Indian Ocean, in Madagascar or Tanzania,” states Arnau Subías, who details that it is not yet known how much has been caught because the fishing records of these countries operate differently from ours. The red prawn, therefore, has jumped to other seas, but it is in the Mediterranean where it has its maximum expression, due to its diet, based on small organisms from the seabed (crustaceans and mollusks) and its tradition in our gastronomy. The red prawn will roam other seas, but its only homeland is the Mediterranean.