Jeeps McGee, my trusty vehicle, starts up with a gutsy roar. The performance exhaust shakes me with thunderous throaty vibrations. My coffee cup perched precariously on the dash spills while disco competes for attention on a station I don’t remember ever having set (was I really listening to this last night? Yikes!). My overnight duffle is happily absorbing the jus de chaussette I was very much looking forward to. Some happy New Year this is!
After an onslaught of holiday parties, I am throwing in the cocktail dress and pulling on the workboots. I sink a few bucks into Jeeps McGee’s big belly and put San Francisco in the rear view mirror. Pescadero here I come…
Me and McGee are so in our element. We are noisily cruising down 280, bouncing up and over the curvy Skyline mountains down to Highway 1. I reach Half Moon Bay and my 33-inch flame tread tires screech left onto the Coastal Highway.
Ahhhh, the ocean….
Today is beautiful. The Winter sun crisp illuminating the Pacific on my right like a bright and blinding sequined serpent. The fields on my left bleak and mostly tilled under with random rotting pumpkins left unloved. Cypress trees, like tortured twisted shadows with desperate outstretched arms edge the endless blue. Weathered farms dot the coast.
Artichoke soup, dungeness crab, and olallieberry pie – here I come!
Farmer’s Kate and Jeff of Echo Valley Farm meet me at Pescadero beach with crowbars and baskets in tow. We find a giant wave washed rock a little too far out in the receding ocean covered with cloistered blue mussels. Prying tools in hand we go to work.
It’s low tide, we should be safe, the tide pools surrounding us are dry and thirsty. Sea cucumbers and anemones hibernate in the squinty bright sun.
Prying bivalves loose, and careful not to destroy the whole entire eco-system, we opt for the bigger ones. The small ones, although tender, are just too much work and not enough meat to show for it.
And then it happens, while our backs are turned and my farmer friends are happily chatting about Spring planting plans – the sea sneaks up on us and takes us all by surprise. We are super soaked!
We grab our gear and make a dash inland trying to find our footing in the tide pools that are now under water. How did that happen?
Back on the farm we dry off and prepare the mussels. This is not a quick process. Wild Mussels are sandy and bearded and covered with mini barnacles.
If storing mussels for a day (or two at the most), kept dry in a single layer in the refrigerator with a damp kitchen towel over top. In a restaurant I store mussels in a perforated tray over ice in the fridge, but never in ice – they will die. Throw away any that have cracked shells. If shells are open tap lightly, if the bivalve closes it is still alive. Otherwise it’s dead.
When ready to use, place mussels gently in a bucket of cold water for 30 minutes. This will help the little bivalves filter out some of the sand. If they are kept in fresh water for an extended time they will die. Under running water scrape and/or scrub off barnacles and remove beard (or byssus) by grabbing the brownish threads with fingertips and yanking back & forth and side to side down by the hinge. Place cleaned mussels into a separate bucket of cold water to continue filtration.
The byssus thread is edible, but sand likes to stick to it and it’s not exactly pleasant to chew – unless you like to eat hair. However, if a few go un-bearded, it’s not the end of the world.
Our bright orange wild mussels taste like Pescadero coast: robust, briney and beautiful. The salty mussel liquor quintuples the white wine I’ve used to steam them open. I’ve never seen so much bivalve liquor before! This I strain with cheesecloth and reserve for various recipes.
Prince Edward Island (PEI) mussels, which are found in most markets, can be steamed directly with other garnishes (Curry & cream? Fennel, saffron & white wine? Tomatoes & capers? Ginger, garlic, & lemongrass?) because they are not sandy and do not need to be strained. Most farmed mussels require just a rinse before using.
But the liquor of wild mussels will need to be strained or the sand left to sink to the bottom of the pot and carefully avoided. I prefer to strain it out but this means my sauce or broth will take extra effort to finish. Totally worth it.
We are taking the mussels to a pot luck party at Pie Ranch down the coast towards Santa Cruz. I opt for a true marinara sauce (a tomato sauce with seafood – as the name implies) for our offering. We cook up pasta, toss it with our rich tomato-caper-mussel sauce enhanced with white wine and mussel liquor, sprinkle chopped parsley over, and head out back along the coast to the barn dance and dinner.
Sun sinking. Sky, a burst of pink and mussel orange. Clouds streaked greyish purple against the flame colored backdrop. Salty sea air stinging noses and wind whipping hair everywhere, we hold on tight in Jeeps McGee.
It’s time to kick up our heels Pescadero style…
Ooh La Laaa Ms Glaze! Fantastic! Will you cook and eat these mussels? John
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I guess I didn’t read the whole story!
This is really the great way you discuss this kind of topic. Good job.
Love love LOVE mussels. Cheap, delicious, and really quick to steam. Throw in a salad and a glass of wine and you have a perfect weeknight meal.
Now I’m so hungry! Looks delicious.
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I forgot to mention that foraging for mussels requires a fishing license. I don’t know if this is common knowledge or not, but I thought I should include it. The amount you can take is 10lbs. Which is quite a bit and will equal a good hour of cleaning work and a fantastic feast!
Also, Winter is a great time for shell fish. They are fat. Also (at least on the West Coast) the red tide is not acting up.
Fresh water mussels are considered unpalatable, and I’ve never had one so I can’t really comment. These mussels are obviously Pacific. ocean. If foraging for mussels in your area, I suggest finding out first if they are edible and when the best time to gather is.
Thank you so much for this description of how to clean wild mussels! Would you deal with clams the same way? I always struggle with the grit. I heard of soaking them with corn meal. does that really work? or is it better to just cook them and then strain the liquor?
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Helen! I did some research into the cornmeal addition as a way to extract more sand, but I found that most people said it was a wives tale. I even called my fish purveyor and they didn’t know the answer because they mostly deal with PEI mussels which are very clean. I say it can’t hurt and whatever works! But it doesn’t really make sense to me from a scientific standpoint. Have you tried this technique before?
I’ve never dug up clams, but intend to try that soon. From what little I know, I think the same method would be used and I always store them in a restaurant as I do mussels.
This is a new venture for me actually sourcing the food myself instead of relying on nice and tidy little fish packages to arrive!
Hiya Chef,
I’ve purged clams with changes of salt water over several hours, but haven’t had the experience of mussel purging because we only have PEI moules which have essentially nothing inside (no beards either). I have attempted to eat a freshwater mussel and while it won’t kill you the taste does indeed leave something to be desired.
Tourism PEI has actually posted that the cornmeal is to replace the stomach contents of the shellfish for those squeamish about having little dark bits. I guess it would work, but it won’t do anything for sand and it won’t be something that works over a couple of hours since digestive tract contents aren’t something that exchange that quickly (it’s a FIFO kind of thing).
The same bureau suggests soaking shellfish in changes of relatively large volumes of sea/salt water, which will of course give you plenty of time to get into your Anne Shirley outfit.
Link is here (the parts about cornmeal and purging sand, not Anne Shirley): http://www.tourismpei.com/index.php3?number=11967
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It would behoove you to familiarize yourself with the Fish and Game regulations before gathering mussels, much less showing pictures of you and your companions so blatantly violating them. Mussels may be taken by hand or “hook and line” only. The crowbars and knife you and your buddy are using is very destructive to the intertidal environment. If a DFG warden came across you you would be hit with some heavy fines. You must have a fishing license to gather mussels, and if you obtain a fishing license, it comes with the responsibility of familiarizing yourself with the regulations.
Mark, Thanks for your comment, I do have a fishing license and I state that up above. The limit is ten pounds and there is nothing that says I can’t use a crowbar or knife on the fish and game website.
Mark, I found the article you’re talking about and it’s not even on the fish and game website it’s on a website called Green Notes. So how anyone is expected to know that is a mystery? And frankly I’m a little put off with your assumption that I don’t play by the rules.
It appears that only recently the method of collecting mussels has changed to say that you are supposed to NOY use tools because they can take mussels off in a cluster.
Pg. 52 of the ocean regulations booklet.
Mollusks:
Section 29.10 General
(a)Except as otherwise provided in this article, saltwater mollusks, including octopus, may be taken only on hook and line or by the hands.
http://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=36328&inline=true
If you don’t believe me go ahead and ask a game warden.
By the way these have been the regulations for many, many years, as long as I remember. You still see people out there with rakes, crowbars, shovels etc, but it’s destructive and illegal. Unfortunately the state is broke and the department is understaffed so it often goes unpenalized.
Mark, I appreciate the clarifications, but once again not your tone. It’s not clear on their website – like I said I had to find the info on another website. Even when you do a search on the fish and game site under mussels you cannot find the info.
And I don’t know anyone who gets a regulations booklet with their fishing license, I’ve always had to look up info on regulations online. I get one just about every year and I’ve never been handed one.
Like I said, I appreciate the clarification, but not the tone. No one was smashing habitats with crowbars. In fact they are not actually easy to use.
I don’t have a print booklet either. I am referencing the page from the regulations found online on the DFG’s website. I buy my license online and much like all the anglers and foragers I know, when I choose to target a particular species, I know it is my responsibility to double check the regs to make sure that particular species is in season and that I am using the appropriate gear.
I am not sure what is particularly wrong with my tone. I don’t know how many people read this blog, but when I saw the pictures of the crowbars and knives, I envisioned dozens of your readers descending onto the intertidal wielding big steel implements and I was a bit horrified. Perhaps that was an overreaction. I’m sure you are an ethical and conscientious person and it was an honest mistake. I just felt it was the responsible thing to speak up and prevent anyone from getting fined or needlessly inflicting harm on the intertidal environment.
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Mark, I made a note at the top of this post so readers can see they can’t use crowbars or tools. This was the first time I had gathered mussels as I normally fish for trout or go crabbing. I did look up the rules online beforehand and the only thing I could find was that there was a 10 pound limit. My “friends” are actually very conscientious organic farmers. And I work/cook on a Homestead farm.
You are right to speak up…
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Hey Mark Congdon stop posting wrong information retard.
(c) Special gear provisions: Spades, shovels, hoes, rakes or other appliances operated by
hand, except spears or gaff hooks, may be used to take Mussels.
As of 2012 from DFG Handbook. If you have your handbook READ IT and don’t act like you did. I work for DFG and I get disappointed with people that give out wrong information.
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Thanks for dropping by Jerry! Feel free to join in the mussel debate!
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Hi, I enjoyed reading your blog and wonder if you might tell me how difficult it is to remove the small barnacles on the mussel shells in practise? Do they come off easily or is it a time consuming painful process to do several hundred at a time in a restaurant?
Thanks.
I agree with Mark Congdon. I was really shocked when I saw your picture on the site with crowbar. It clearly states in the DFG booklet (pdf or paper) that you may only take invertebrates with hook or line or with the hands unless otherwise stated. It’s horrible of you to post a picture otherwise. Please be proactive in educating yourself about DFG regulations and promoting those regulations for all foragers. In the 2013/14 handbook this statement occurs on page 47. If you care about the future of these foraging areas, please remove your photo with crowbar and put a big statement at the top of the blog about with link to the fish and game regulations and requirement for a license. You risk spoiling it for everyone!
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