Hello and Welcome to the July edition of the Penn Cove Shellfish Newsletter!
The last photo of the Deep Sea as it finally leaves Penn Cove
Well it has been an eventful couple of months here at Penn Cove Shellfish. As many of you are aware, we had quite an issue with a derelict crab boat that was illegally moored in Penn Cove since last December. The situation finally culminated with the vessel catching on fire and ultimately sinking near our mussel rafts. Here's a video from the Seattle CBS affiliate when the vessel sank.
After several long weeks of problem solving with the State Ecology officials and the U.S. Coast Guard, the best solution was to have the crab boat pulled from the bottom of Penn Cove and refloated and towed from Penn Cove. With the help from great dive crews and the huge cranes pictured below, the raising of the Deep Sea was successful and the boat was finally towed out of Penn Cove. It was a very precarious event and thankfully there were no safety issues resulting from it. Once the vessel was removed and the quality our products was tested and confirmed by NOAA and FDA labs, we resumed harvesting in Penn Cove and the mussels are great!
We want to thank all of you for your well wishes and support as we worked through this situation out on the water. Many of you reached out to us by phone and our Facebook page and by email. We truly appreciate your friendship and loyalty. |
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Mussels, Mussels, Mussels |
 | | Photo courtesy of John Keating. |
As noted above, we are rocking and rolling again with our mussel harvest in Penn Cove! We resumed harvesting in Penn Cove on June 10th, after the Deep Sea incident. During the recovery efforts for the sunken boat we were harvesting at our mussel farm site in Quilcene Bay; and we were very happy to have had a second farm site to turn to. 
While the Deep Sea was being recovered, we took the time to re-fit our Penn Cove harvest vessel, the "Moule Mariner". With a new deck and updated equipment, it is a mussel harvesting wonder indeed! Even though it looks like something from the old Mouse Trap game, in a time span of about 30 minutes, mussels come from the water through specialized  cleaning, sorting and debyssing equipment via a series of conveyors after which they are inspected, bagged, weighed and then iced down for transport to our packing and shipping facility. We only harvest what we have orders for so that the mussels shipped are usually at their desitination within 24 hours of coming from the water! Our Penn Cove Mussels are very fat and sweet and are awaitiing your epicurean imagination and talent on how best to prepare them. Our hats go off to the Front Street Grill in Coupeville which recently premiered a new menu with eleven different mussel recipes, all very unique and wonderful! 
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Summertime Oyster Availability |
Many of you are already aware that oysters will spawn in the summertime and get soft and creamy to a point where you need to choose oysters more selectively based on their meat condition. That is one of the items we identify in our weekly oyster evaluation which can be viewed at Oyster Evaluation Guide . If the guide indicates a spawny condition above a level 3, it is advisable select another oyster.  Oyster selections this month and last have been very limited due to an ongoing, low level, Red Tide closure in British Columbia, where many of our single Pacific oysters are grown. We realize that the shortage this closure is creating is very frustrating for many of you and we share that feeling. Nobody can predict what causes the particular dinoflagellate algae to bloom some times and places and not others, but we do know not to take it likely and that is why our products are tested weekly for any such occurance. We hope for a speedy re-opening of B.C. waters soon. |
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Penn Cove Video |  | |
The wildly popular celebrity chef from the Food Network and MSNBC,
Andrew Zimmern,
paid a visit to Penn Cove Shellfish to learn more about our mussel farming operation and enjoy a meal made by Seattle Restaurant owner and Iron Chef, Tom Douglas.
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Oyster of the Month
- The Salish -
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The newest edition to our line up, the Salish Oysters have been very popular from the get go. These Canadian oysters come from the waters of Baynes Sound,BC and are exquisite. The Salish oyster is tray raised, then beach hardened and are the perfect addition to any dinner table. Bursting with flavor, these oysters offer a pleasant briny taste with a hint of sweetness in the finish. If you you are looking for a new oyster to try, this one is sure to please. |
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