I recently went to France and whilst there purchased a large quantity of quite big prawns (Rose Marie Crevettes) since they were very cheap on a supermarket special offer. After spending a considerable time shelling them, a thought crossed my mind. When you buy them as "peeled prawns," since they are quite fragile, have they been done by hand, or has someone built a machine to do it?

Senior Moments

According to http://www.aquablue.co.uk/data/plain_pages/pandalus_production.htm Some production is from fresh unfrozen prawns fished by day boats, and some is produced from frozen raw material caught by ocean going trawlers that stay out for weeks. Processing of Pandalus prawns is largely automated. Unlike warm water prawns which have hard thick shells and really need to be peeled by hand,, cold water prawn shell is thin. This means that they can be peeled by machine. In fact, the machines used are combined cookers and peelers. The prawns are carried into a cooking bath by belt, and then put through pinch rollers which gently pull off the shell, and remove the head without damaging the meat. After washing, the peeled prawn meat is conveyed to a freezer, which quickly seals in the succulent juices, and ensures that the prawns are "individually quick frozen". They go through a blower which removes any bits of shell or antenna, and an optical sorter which screens any discoloured or incompletely peeled prawns. (These prawns are CLEAN!). To avoid dehydration after freezing, they are given a coat of protective ice glaze before packing. Jun 26 03, 6:41 PM

Baloo55th

I don't know about large prawns, but Southport shrimps are hand picked. Sometimes boiled on the back of the shanker's vehicle and shelled right there on the beach. Jun 27 03, 2:21 PM