One of my favorite summer suppers involves the delicious and mighty blue mussel. Inexpensive to buy and quick and easy to cook, I love making a meal out of a plate of steamed mussels.
Before I get into the nutritional profile of these bivalves, it’s important for you to know that mussels are one of the most sustainable forms of seafood you can find. While I normally tell you not to buy farmed fish, in the case of mussels, the “buy wild” rule doesn’t apply.
That’s because mussels are farmed in a very sustainable manner. The farmer doesn’t need to interfere with nature at all to grow and harvest mussels. Mussels grow on special ropes that the farmer puts in the water during the spawning season. These little guys would naturally grow along the bottom of the sea or on a rock if the farmer didn’t set down those ropes.
After the mussels grow large enough, the farmer puts them in mesh sleeves or “socks” and returns them to the water where they feed on their natural diet in their natural habitat. When they’ve reached maturity, the mussels are harvested. The farming of mussels leaves zero environmental footprint.
Most of our cultivated mussels in the US come from New England and in Canada, Prince Edward Island is the nation’s leading mussel producer. In fact, you see PEI blue mussels on restaurant menus all over North America.
Now, what do mussels have going for them in the nutrition department? Let’s take a look at the highlights:
Protein. Mussels are extremely high in protein. A 1-pound serving of mussels contains the same amount of protein as a 6-ounce steak.
Iron. A serving of mussels provides you with 22% of your daily required amount of iron.
B12. A single 3-ounce serving of mussels provides you with a whopping 20.4 mg of Vitamin B12. Three times the amount your body requires per day.
Low in fat and calories, mussels are an excellent source of amino acids, antioxidants, and omega-e fatty acids. They contain healthy amounts of vitamin C, selenium, zinc, manganese, phosphorous, riboflavin, thiamine, and folate.
The most common varieties of mussels you’ll find in North America are the blue mussel and the larger Mediterranean mussel. Blue mussels are the tastiest of the two varieties, so look for those.
To cook mussels, you simply need to place them in a stockpot with about an inch of liquid (white wine or beer work well) and steam them until they open. Discard any mussels whose shells didn’t open during the cooking process. Those guys were dead so you don’t want to eat them.
What a great way to switch things up on the summer dinner table by serving delicious and nutritious mussels.
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What do you eat with mussels? This is totally new to me.
In Belgium I grew up eating them with frites (french fries) on the side. Or bread (not paleo, obviously).
you steam them you can serve them in tomatoes sauce with Italian herbs.or marinara sauce. on a bed of pasta.
melted butter. lemon butter. you name it. i love smoked mussels
I love mussels, but I’ve grown up in Europe with an old rule that says to never eat mussels in a month without an “R” in it (so no mussels from May through August). It is not so bad now that there are functioning cold chains everywhere, but the rule still applies: In the summer months, algae bloom and build biotoxines, and algae is what mussels feed on (the toxines in the mussels seem to remain below the critical values, but I had rather eat no toxines than few). Also, mussels spawn in the summer and are less tasty and rather meager at this time.
In the Philippines I learned to steam them in water seasoned with slices of fresh ginger and garlic. Yummy!!