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Welcome to the Review of March events at Penn Cove Shellfish on Beautiful Whidbey Island.
Fun day touring the mussel farm with the team from Ivar's Salmon House in Seattle
Well March was a very busy and fun filled month here at Penn Cove Shellfish. As usual, the first weekend of March we hosted the 26th Annual Penn Cove MusselFest here in Coupeville. The following weekend was just as busy with several Penn Cove representatives attending the Schlafly Stout and Oyster Festival in St. Louis and the International Boston Seafood Show.
It's always great to share our story with people here locally, see our friends in St. Louis and spend time with our customers at the Boston Show. A whirlwind month for sure and we sure enjoyed every moment.
Although we have had a relatively mild winter overall, March came in as a Lion and is going out out like a Lion with snow, rain, wind and more rain. The good news is that the mussels clams and oysters are growing nicely and the quality continues to improve.
There's always plenty more information about us and our products, videos and past editions to be found at our website www.penncoveshellfish.com . |
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26th Annual Musselfest in Review | 
Lot's of smiling faces on the Mussel Farm Boat Tours and around town as visitors from Vancouver B.C. all the way down to Portland, Oregon made the special trip to Coupeville to take part in all the events. From the mussel eating competition, Guest Chef demonstrations, chowder tasting contest  to the live music and shopping in Coupeville a good time was had by the 6,000 people that came to visit Coupeville for MusselFest. 
We do the festival to help bring visitors to the community and share our story with shellfish lovers. Ultimately its for a great cause as the Boys and Girls Club of Coupeville receive the profits generated from our MusselFest Mussel, Beer & Wine Garden.  We couldn't have done it without our great volunteers and our sponsors at Sierra-Nevada Brewing and Flyer's Restaurant and Brewery and the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. Thank you again to all of you volunteers who took part in this years Musselfest... We hope to see you all again next year!! |
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2012 Boston Seafood Show | |
The International Boston Seafood Show was another fun filled and successful trip again this year.
As always, it was great to meet up with exisiting customers and industry friends and share information about our new products and plans for the upcoming year.
Thank you to all of our new business friends and we look forward to a long and mutually prosperous relationship with you.
We will continue to do everything we can to deliver you the best tasting, highest quality shellfish and the best customer service in the industry. |
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Schlafly Stout and Oyster Festival
St. Louis, MO | 
It was an oyster shucking record event for the folks at the Schlafly Brewery in St. Louis this year. Over 35,000 oysters and plenty of great beers were enjoyed by the massive crowd attending the Schlafly Stout and Oyster Festival held there each March.
The two day festival was attended by Rawle Jefferds and Tim Jones from Penn Cove Shellfish and several of our Seattle area customers/Chefs to represent the west coast.
There they met up with oyster industry friends from the east coast. Known as "The Shuckers" at the Schlafly event, both groups enjoy sharing our shellfish stories with the friendly people of St Louis, serving up oysters and having a great time.
Thanks once again to Stewart, Stephan, Sarah and Tom Schlafly for hosting such a fun event! We highly recommend if you are ever in St. Louis to swing by the Schlafly Brewery for some great beer and and fantastic food.
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Manila Clams from Penn Cove Shellfish |  | |
Originally arriving in the northwest mixed amongst pacific oyster seed that was imported to North America during the 1940's, this sweet, even cooking clam has overtaken the native littleneck clam to become the premier clam of the region. No longer do supplies come strictly from wild harvest; since the demand for this clam has skyrocketed, clam farming has become a means for shellfish growers to assure supply. Farmed clams come to us at a consistent size of 1 ¼" to 1 ½" in diameter.
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Oyster of the Month
Dabob Bay Oysters
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For those of you who like a nice and briny 3 inch oyster, this is a good one. It is grown on the shores of Dabob Bay, which extends off of the northern end of Hood Canal in Washington State. It is harvested at a young age to keep it small and perfect for those who enjoy oysters eaten raw off the half shell. You can expect to taste the ocean freshness and yet enjoy a sweet after taste when eating this wonderful oyster.
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Mussel Care | |
A frequent question we get asked is about proper care of the mussels once received from Penn Cove Shellfish.
At the restaurant or at home use either a self draining bus tub or a colander placed into another bowl underneath it, with the mussels covered with ice placed in the self draining container.
Wholesale distributors should remove their bags of mussels from the shipping boxes in order that they get some air, and then bury the bags in a tote of ice, with the plug pulled from the tote so that the ice water may drain off.
Be sure to leave some of the tags of the bags showing so that you may rotate your stock properly.
Saltwater ice may be too cold for the mussels and cause some to freeze, so stick with freshwater ice.
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Musselfest Pictures
