Tag Archive for: Mussels

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Meet The Team – Wojciech Zdzisinski

We are proud to have fantastic staff here at Scottish Shellfish who have a real passion for our produce, the Scottish outdoors, and who embody our sustainable and environmentally friendly ethos – we think they are so great we want you to meet them too!

We would like to introduce you to Wojciech Zdzisinski who is our AV Hall Manager, to give you a glimpse into the work he does for Scottish Shellfish.

Wojciech Zdzisinski

What does your role at Scottish Shellfish involve?

I help with sourcing the best raw materials based on quality and I also oversee the different stages of production and I manage some of our staff.

What do you enjoy most about working at Scottish Shellfish?

I really enjoy the challenges of the day to day production work in our factory, I enjoy the pace of the role and I am lucky to work with some really great people.

What have been the main changes you have seen during your time at Scottish Shellfish?

During my time here we have introduced part-automatization of one of the lines in the Final Pack areas of production. We have also introduced bio-degradable cases for some of our current lines and in future all live mussel products will have bio-degradable packaging.

What was your 2019 highlight?

I got a job promotion which was great!

If you could achieve one thing in 2020 what would it be?

We all need to do our bit to help the planet so on a personal level I am aiming to reduce the amount of waste I produce at home and recycle more.

Do you have a favourite shellfish recipe you can?

Scallops wrapped in bacon - wrap bacon around scallops then secure in place with cocktail stick. Drizzle lemon over the scallops and oven bake at 180 degrees until bacon is crisp – delicious!

What is your favourite Scottish Shellfish product?

Any product from the Coquille range – all really tasty!

Do you have a favourite Scottish holiday destination or place?

St Andrews, Glencoe and also the Devil’s Pulpit which is a hidden gem not a lot of people have heard about. It is in Finnich Glen, Stirlingshire and it is a must see!

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Creamy mussels with smoky bacon & cider

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scot food fort 19

10 years celebrating Scottish Food & Drink

It’s the Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight from the Saturday 31stAugust until Sunday 15thSeptember 2019 and this year is special because they are celebrating 10 years of the fantastic fortnight that is dedicated to celebrating Scotland’s larder. 

The Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight is about the Scottish farmers/producers, makers and retailers celebrating all that is amazing about our nation’s outstanding food and drink products and the people behind them. The food and drink sector in Scotland is worth nearly £30b! 

Not just Whisky & Salmon 

Scotland is probably best known for its whisky and salmon but there is so much more to it than that, including some delicious and sustainable shellfish from our member farms situated in the pristine waters of the Scottish west coast and the Shetland isles. 

Our member farms fuel and satisfy the demand for shellfish here in the UK and abroad, we have blogs from our farmers that can be read here, and you can see where our farms are located on our map of Scotland by clicking here.

Produce 

Our mussels are grown on ropes suspended in the tidal currents and are deliciously plump and sweet tasting.  Our produce is with our retailers as quickly as possible allowing it to be as fresh as possible and our member farms produce a range of shellfish including oysters, crab, lobster, mussels, langoustines, scallops to name a few.  The following image is the journey of our mussels from the sea to your plate.  

sea to plate
Mussels - Sea to Plate

Get Involved

Get involved with #ScotFoodFort19 and tell us some of your favourite shellfish recipes, restaurants, farmers or what other Scottish products you like with your shellfish. Post on here, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

Let’s celebrate our wonderful Scottish larder. 

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mussels and tomato and red pepper

Mussels with Tomato and Red Pepper

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shellfish soup

Shellfish Soup

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mussels
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Welcome to Fassfern Mussels

Hi, I'm Alan Bryne. I'm a mussel farmer and I farm with my brother Lawrie on the West Coast of Scotland. We are producers of high-quality rope grown mussels, our farm is based near Fort William, Inverness-shire.

Optimum growing conditions

Our mussels are grown in the pure, plankton rich waters of the North Atlantic, free from contamination, which offers optimum growing conditions.

Our mussel farm was established in 1999, and we both enjoy looking after the farm and working on new innovations. The best thing about my job is when we harvest a good crop of great quality mussels for our customers to enjoy.

Hard part of the job

The hardest part of my job is having to deal with the ever-changing challenges that the wonderful mother nature throws at us! However, we are planning on doubling our production over the next few years, whilst keeping the excellent quality mussel we currently produce.

The future

Our future innovations are looking into optimising mussel growth and quality by using different farming locations for different growth stages of our mussels. Traditionally we would grow them from spat to harvest at the same location.

Our mussel farm operates a strict monitoring program, taking regular samples for testing in an accredited laboratory, ensuring our mussels are always safe to eat.

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mussel

National Mussel Day 2018

Fascinating facts about Scotland’s favourite shellfish . . .

Sales of mussels are on the increase, at home and abroad. You can see from our site how popular mussel recipes are and Scottish shellfish is celebrated the world over. Last year (2017) saw the first ever National Mussel Day. Using the hashtag #musselup, the campaign focused on raising the profile of mussels across social media. National Mussel Day was so successful that it’s here to stay. Sunday Oct 7 is National Mussel Day 2018. To celebrate, here are some fascinating facts about one of our most popular shellfish.

Did you know?

A much-loved mollusc

  • In Scotland (and across the North Atlantic) the most common mussel is the Blue Mussel (Mytilus Edulis).
  • Mussels can live for up to 50 years. We don’t tend to eat them at the end of their lives though! The average age of our mussels ready for consumption is 2.5 to 3 years.
  • Male and female mussels are different colours – the male is a creamy white and the female is an orangey colour.
  • When it comes to diet, mussels only eat plankton. To extract the plankton, in one day they can filter 65 litres of water.
  • Mussels produce liquids which set in seawater to form tough fibres called byssal threads or beards. These threads are five times stronger than a human tendon and can cling to a Teflon surface.
  • Mussels can defend themselves from predators such as the dog whelk, and other snails by tying them down with its byssal threads.
  • Mussels close their shells when the tide drops so that they don’t dry up when they’re out of the water.
  • Other than snails, mussels’ main predators are starfish and seabirds.
  • Like the oyster, mussels can also produce pearls. But these are limited to freshwater mussels and are much rarer.
  • Although it may look less than pristine, if the mussel shell is covered with barnacles this is usually a good sign that the mussel is wild, fresh and healthy.

History

  • Mussels have been used as a food source for more than 20,000 years. And many prehistoric settlements in Scotland have been identified by large mounds of mussel shells close by.
  • The first mussel farm dates back to the 8thcentury and was located in France.

Health

  • Mussels have the most impressive nutritional profile of all the shellfish. Consumption of mussels can help reduce inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. And the minerals they contain help build immunity.
  • Mussels are considered a brain food due to the high levels of vitamin B12 that they contain.
  • Mussels are chock full of protein, iron and folic acid. In fact, ounce for ounce, they contain more protein than beef stock.
  • They’re healthy in so many ways. 100g of mussels only contains 58 calories!

Cooking

  • Mussels have so much water within their shells that you don’t need to add water when you steam them.
  • Mussels need to be alive when you cook them. Don’t cook them if the shells are already open and don’t eat them if the shells remain closed after cooking.
  • Moules and frites (mussels and chips) is actually the national dish of Belgium, although more often associated with France.

Working up an appetite?

Yes, there’s more to the humble mussel than meets the eye. And is all this talk making you hungry? Don’t forget to check out our recipes and #musselup this October.

Happy National Mussel Day everyone!

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winter is coming
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Winter is coming . . .

Summer is over

I am writing on a brisk Shetland autumn day, which anyone might mistake for a full-blown winter’s gale in more southerly climates.  As often as not up here, the weather snaps from summer to winter in one fell swoop and the summer seems very much behind us now.   Despite southern parts of Britain getting a final flourish of heat, we seem to be lined up for several weeks of gales and cool temperatures of 7 degrees or below.  So, I’m calling it - summer is over.

Unique shellfish

It is however the cold temperatures and cold sea water that make our shellfish unique.  So, getting into this part of the season has its benefits and it is one of the best times of the year for the mussels themselves. They have just had a long summer of warm days, plenty of plankton to eat to build up their meats and followed by the current cooler conditions for harvesting mean they should be getting to market in top condition right now.

winter is coming

Visitors

Despite the cooler conditions, we have had a few visitors to the sites lately with the first being the board of Food Standards Scotland making the trip north to find out more about how we farm.  We discussed their sampling programme and how that works to classify our areas and ensure plankton blooms over the summer cannot cause the shellfish to become unsafe to eat.  We also talked about the extra work and testing we do on every harvest, to make sure all the shellfish we harvest are safely farmed and sustainable.  It was a really useful day and was great they made the effort to come up and see us.

winter is coming

Fresh mussels for the Chefs

The following week we had a delegation from Seafood Scotland, who had invited a group of Chefs up from the UK Mainland to also get the chance to see what we do.  We were able to show them the farms and also the factory where Scottish Shellfish boxes up the mussels for the wholesale markets.  They were keen to get their hands on some shells and take them up to the local award-winning restaurant Frankie’s and try their own recipes with product still dripping with seawater.  They too seemed to enjoy the visit and hopefully went back fully inspired to use our shellfish in their daily menus.

winter is coming

Autumn harvesting

Moving through autumn we expect to mainly be harvesting, getting the sites battened down for the rest of the winter and planning for next year’s spring spat input.  You can follow Shetland Mussels on twitter for more regular updates of farm happenings @ShetlandMussels

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fish & chorizo stew

Mediterranean Fish & Chorizo Stew

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