Bouchot PDO St Michel
Bouchot PDO St Michel
The Bouchot mussel of the Bay of the Mont Saint-Michel is the only sea product to have a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
The PDO specifications guarantees the origin, a high flesh rate and strict regular controls.
The Bay of the Mont Saint-Michel hosts the largest tides in Europe. It helps the development of plankton that feeds the shellfish.
The Bouchot mussel is grown only in France on wooden poles in the sea so that it is out of reach of predators. These poles are called bouchot.
This is the ultimate quality mussel: it is meaty and the flesh can take a yellow-orange color and its taste is unmistakable.
The bouchot mussels are easily identifiable: their shell is small, they are meaty and their flesh is often yellow or orange. There is no sand or parasite (crabs…) inside. Their taste is inimitable.
In order to protect consumers, mussel growers have registered the brand "Moules de Bouchot". Thus, bouchot mussels’ labels must have the official logo.
In addition, the sea farmers have implemented a quality approach for bouchot mussels. They chose the TSG, Traditional Speciality Guaranteed, in order to valorize the production of bouchot mussels and the traceability of this collective brand well known by the consumers.
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Depending on generosity of Nature, these periods may vary from year to year.
After harvesting, mussels are put in a pool of seawater to remove any impurities. Then nets have to be removed and mussels are cleaned and sorted by hand before packing.
Mussels are calibrated mechanically using a grid so that their thickness is at least 12mm.
Usually packing range is from 5 to 15kg. Mussels can also be packed in plastic tray under a controlled atmosphere for longer storage.
The byssus (from Greek bussos, fine linen) is a set of fibers made by the mussel in order to hang on.
A ready-to-cook mussel (RTC) is a mussel from which the byssus has been removed before packing. Thus you do not have to remove these filaments yourself and mussels can be put directly into the pan!
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