It's been a long while since I discussed a meat as an exotic food, so today I'll cover some mussels. That were harvested in China, for a company that's based in the U.S. The Roland company, to be exact, which might sound familiar, since I featured another Roland food, from Turkey, back on June 25, 2022. Today's mussels were canned, of course, and were smoked.
I went into detail about the Roland company in that previous 2022 post, so I won't repeat myself now. Instead I'll provide more information about mussels themselves. Mussels can refer to a wide variety of both fresh and salt water mollusks. They're bivalves, meaning that their shell has two hinged halves, which can be opened and closed. Typically they're a kind of elongated oval shape, with a dark outside color--black or brown. As adults they're known for their sedentary nature, as they're found on hard surfaces, such as rocks. Their ability to stick to their home surfaces is quite impressive--it's such a firm adhesion that science is studying it to figure out how to improve industrial and even surgical bonds. Since they don't move from their eventual homes their method of feeding is passive--they filter water through themselves constantly, and consume the tiny plankton and micro sea life that passes through. Even the mussel's mating is indirect; the males release their sperm into the water, and if it goes into a female she's impregnated. (Mussels usually clump together in groups, so this journey is usually short, but still.) The young mussels, the larva, live different lives than their parents. They drift through the sea, until they encounter a species-specific type of fish. When they do, they stick to this fish's gill or fins as a parasite. Usually the fish's immune system forms a cyst around the young mussel. Eventually the cyst falls off, and the mussel finds a permanent home to which it adheres. As far as enemies, the mussels have many. Freshwater varieties are avidly eaten by raccoons, otters, muskrats, ducks, dogs, baboons, and people. The oceanic kinds are preyed on by seabirds, starfish, whelks, and again, people. Mussels are quite nutritious as well. They have decent amounts of selenium, Vitamins A and B-12, zinc, folate, phosphorus, iron, and iodine. Common cooking methods of them include steaming, boiling, roasting, smoking, and frying. They're also a very ancient food for humans, as prehistoric sites in Scotland demonstrate that people were eating them as early as 20,000 years ago. Additionally, some freshwater kinds can even produce pearls, like oysters. Finally, to dispel a common myth, it's okay to eat cooked mussels that haven't opened. It just means that this particular mussel had a firm grip, and managed to stay closed. There is one important mussel eating safety tip, though--only mussels that are still alive should be cooked. If they're already dead, they quickly spoil, and may be unpalatable or even toxic to consume.
Roland canned smoked mussels: There's no getting around this--mussels don't look appetizing. These canned ones looked like yellowish oval discs of phlegm. About inch (about 2.5 cm.) long, and about .5 inch (1.25 cm.) wide. I had some plain, and some on a roll. These mussels were packed in oil as well. Their texture was oily, and chewy. Taste-wise these weren't as good as fresh mussels, of course, but still pretty good. If you like shellfish in general, you'll probably like these. I think they were a bit better on the bread, as a seafood sandwich. Overall canned mussels aren't great, but they are definitely solid. And if you're a better cook than me (which is almost impossible not to be) many folks like to mix mussels in with stews, soups, other entrees, etc. Finally, canned seafood usually has a very long shelf life--sometimes 3-5 years even, so they're an excellent choice for protein in the event of a zombie, Terminator, nuclear mutant cannibals, or any other kind of apocalypse.
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