“It’s all hand harvested,” says Tom Robinson of the wild-grown South Australian pipis that have been named as a finalist in the delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards. 

While Robinson, Managing Director at Goolwa Pipi Co, says that the product, harvested with hand nets close to the Coorong National Park, is certified as sustainable seafood by the Marine Stewardship Council, a stronger statement of sustainability is “that we’re in commercial partnership with the Ngarrindjeri Nation, who have been sustainably fishing that resource for 19,000 years.” 

Middens of “kuti” shells, as they’re known to the Ngarrindjeri people, have been found in and around the dunes of Goolwa Beach, and gives its name to perhaps the best place to experience Goolwa pipis, the Kuti Shack, a wholly Ngarrindjeri owned enterprise, which also owns a share of Goolwa Pipi Co.

It’s a fact that hasn’t escaped the notice of chef and national awards judge Jo Barrett (pictured above, formerly of the Future Food Systems project in Melbourne’s Federation Square, and Oakridge Wines). “What impressed me was that community engagement with the Ngarrindjeri people and how it’s reflected in their workforce. I was also really intrigued with the harvesting techniques,” she says of the nets that are used for hand raking the beach sands. “And of course, they were very delicious,” says Barrett.

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While Goolwa Pipi Co was incorporated in just 2014 by four generational fishing families the saltwater clam, a type of marine bivalve mollusc, has been sold as a value added food product since the early 2000s. 

As part of the development of the product, which is now a favourite of chefs across Australia, Goolwa Pipi Co have worked with the South Australian Research and Development Institute for over a decade to form a better picture of how pipis grow over their life cycle; a project that has included harvesting, tagging and releasing a thousand pipis to help track the date and location of where they are found again, at which time data of size is taken to compare against current knowledge of their lifecycle.

“When we started harvesting the early adopters of the product were the Asian community who have been eating clams for a very long time,” says Robinson. “But more recently we have been selling most of our catch as small pipis, and that is really targeted to a more Western market. Even though the large ones are what the Asian community really want, it’s the small ones that are sweeter and nuttier in their taste,” he says.

“They’ve utilised their season too,” says Barrett. “A seasonal product essentially, but then to have value added products [frozen and also ready to eat], that was really cool,” she says. Product sold fresh, is says Robinson a live product that’s commonly on plates no later than two days after harvest. Cooking and preparation are relatively simple even for the seafood novice, first rinsed, and removed from the pan as soon as 80% of the shells have opened. Versatile they can be prepared as part of a hearty chowder, a traditional Italian pasta alle vongole, or with a little or a lot of chilli heat.

Related story: 2022 delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards National Finalists announced