| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Jonnyboy |
Gathering and cooking mussels.Jamanda (with help from Wonder Boy and Sean) has written an lovely article on gathering and cooking mussels, one of the tastiest free treats that can be found on the sea shore.You'll be wanting to click here to get inspired, personally the first pic was enough to get me hooked. Hope you get inspired as well. |
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| hedgehogpie |
Good piece, I like the sound of mouclade. 
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| orangepippin |
Very good. I've always been wary of doing this though because how can you tell if a beach is "clean"? | ||||
| sean |
A lot of beaches display water quality reports now. (There's probably somewhere to look them up on the internet too.) Or in the case of that beach we asked someone else who was collecting mussels whether they did so regularly. | ||||
| Treacodactyl |
As a starting point I tend to check the water quality on this site: http://www.goodbeachguide.co.uk/ | ||||
| sally_in_wales |
lovely article, I fancy some mussles now
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| cab |
A good start is to ask the locals. You can also phone the environment agency for advice on this. |
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| vegplot |
I've always been wary of sea food. Maybe it's a good time to give mussels a try, there's plenty of them around here. | ||||
| dpack |
nice article
so long as they are well cooked bacterial problems are avoided but beware heavey metals in industrial waters( even ex industrial waters ) imho the best mussels are from rocky atlantic coasts and the best way to cook them is bbq in embers along with the other tasty critters of the shore |
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| dpack |
ps if worried about the water quality and you have fresh water you can clean mussels as the commercial producers do by leaving in a pot of clean water for a few days ,it ruins the flavour but reduces the bugs | ||||
| lottie |
Thanks for the ref---I can check out the local beaches[ says they're good] and know they're o.k.
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| Jonnyboy |
Don't forget that some sewage treatment plans only operate during the summer months when they expect people to be in the water. | ||||
| Treacodactyl |
As mentioned, it's a good start and it covers past water quality and lets you know if it's suitable for bathing. However, it doesn't cover other factors that might cause problems in shellfish such as algae etc which, IIRC, might not be purged even by using the clean water method. |
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| Steve A |
What's the thinking behind somebody who doesn't harvest them in the summer months? | ||||
| cab |
They're not as good; they spawn in summer, the quality is a lot lower. Besides, eating your prey when its spawning isn't good for maintaining stocks. |
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| Jamanda |
Also if there are any nasty bacteria around,they are more likely to be present in greater numbers in warm weather. |