The varos

Iaorana! Sometimes, when you are lucky, while taking a walk in the Huahine lagoon, on our motorized canoe, you can meet friends of the skipper fishing for varos. Lucky for you because now is the time to buy delicious varos of respectable sizes (over 18 cm) at a good price. After some haggling, you can go home with these delicious shellfish and cook them in butter and garlic! Mama mia, what delights! But, what are varos? In French, they are called “multicolored squilles” or “mantis shrimps”. In Latin, hold on, “odontodactylus scyllanus” or “squilla mantis”. This crustacean lives in coral or sandy-muddy bottoms, inside burrows. A varo, gray, greenish and red in color, here in Huahine, looks like a large transparent shrimp with two front legs similar to those of the praying mantis. In addition, it also has a formidable sting that must be cut in order to let a bitter liquid “piss” before frying it in the pan, hence its nickname in Chinese of pissing shrimp. To see and taste if you can because they are rare and expensive! Enjoy your food ! The varos of Huahine.