You can eat mussels . Mussels are jolly good-- mussels , clams, things like that, which are low in the food chain in shellfish terms.They're all good. But the third thing you can do as an individual is just-- well, you could do it by getting a copy of my book,
So let's zoom in closer to see how they do this. The mussel 's foot is actually hollow. This hollow chamber is airtight and watertight and acts like a plunger to draw liquid proteins down the hollow tube in its foot.
This hollow chamber is airtight and watertight and acts like a plunger to draw liquid proteins down the hollow tube in its foot. The mussel 's foot then pumps and massages those chemicals into a foam-like substance to create a thread. To then create that spot of glue, the most important ingredient is a chemical called L-dopa.
I personally find this fascinating in its own right, but Li's journey didn't end there. Harvesting mussel proteins just simply isn't feasible from a cost perspective. It would take 10,000 mussels to create a quarter of a teaspoon of glue proteins.
And another marvel is one you can order in most coastal seafood restaurants. Blue mussels are the focus of chapter 6 in my book. And at first glance, they may seem kind of boring.
Byssal threads can stretch to 160% of their original length and are five times stronger than our own Achilles tendon. If you spot a mussel making one of these threads, you'll see a brown foot slither out from its shell. I know it looks like some kind of weird tongue, but it's actually a long, skinny foot.
And as soon as I say that, you may think of its use in Parkinson's, but it's actually being used in a completely different fashion here. For the whole mussel , the process takes-- for the mussel to create this thread, the whole process takes only five minutes. I personally find this fascinating in its own right, but Li's journey didn't end there.
And since we can't extract glue from mussels like we can milk from cows, Professor Li needed to invent a synthetic version that mimics the mussel 's grip. So he had one more step to complete.
So by mixing together the best of soy and the best of mussel proteins, Professor Li was able to create a soy glue imbued with a Frankenstein mix of mussel strength. A company called Purebond purchased his glue for their manufacturing and ended up replacing 47 pounds million of formaldehyde resins while reducing hazardous air
Travel, right-- you see what France is doing. You go see the mussels on the coast of Brittany and where Prince Edward Island actually discovered their similar climate for mussel harvesting. And all these things will start-- even today as I travel now, just constant-- it's like formulaic.
They didn't call it foraging. We pulled mussels out of the jetty. They didn't call it foraging.
And at first glance, they may seem kind of boring. But blue mussels are amazing in that their glue needs the fortitude to withstand the smashing of waves and baking hot dry spells, all in a day's time. They also need to resist hungry seagulls pecking at their shells and the effect of being sandblasted by debris.
And they come from a local fishery who's got an interest in not overfishing it, lobster and crab. You can eat mussels . Mussels are jolly good-- mussels , clams, things like that, which are low in the food chain in shellfish terms.
And so for people to be able to reproduce their own food, young Lebanese people, to reproduce their own food the way their mother cooked it, When someone tells you mussels with rice, it doesn't-- Exactly.
And there are people there who call themselves ostrovegans. So they only eat mussels and oysters, because they think that they don't feel pain, because they don't have the nerve endings for it. And by farming them, you're actually improving the environment.
I'm sure someone out there is going to point out the remarkable life story of the squid. and picking mussels . So that's one place that all you need is a recreational sport fishing license.
But basically we had a pan get really hot. We added the mussels and the clams, covered them in white wine, covered the pot, and what happens is they'll steam opened letting out a lot of their liquid, which is a great base for a sauce.
That's not necessarily a good sign of a good shellfish. So that was the mussels . The clams, the exact same thing.
And I think it speaks to what you're all about as well, that you have often used ingredients that weren't necessarily-- they weren't used by Icelandic people, such as blue mussels . They have the most beautiful, pristine blue muscles in Iceland, but they weren't using them.
And the Army Corps of Engineers put a price tag of $18 billion on that one. These are zebra mussels . I don't know if people read the story in yesterday's "Times." They're invaders from Eastern Europe.
And there was a piece yesterday about a scientist who was trying to find a biological agent, like a bacteria-- in this case, a bacteria-- that could potentially fight zebra mussels . So we all have-- if you have a backyard, you doubtless have plants in it that are not native species.
Reasonable question you're asking. I talked about farmed mussels , oysters, clams.
Yeah, to take over, because they have to be the fourth. I think this is the blue mussel producer that Gunnar works with.
Harvesting mussel proteins just simply isn't feasible from a cost perspective. It would take 10,000 mussels to create a quarter of a teaspoon of glue proteins. And since we can't extract glue from mussels like we can milk from cows, Professor Li needed to invent a synthetic version that
So to start in a pan, one thing that we've done already is we've cut off mussels and clams. If anybody hasn't ever cooked mussels and clams, what we really did is we're using it for the juice.
is we've cut off mussels and clams. If anybody hasn't ever cooked mussels and clams, what we really did is we're using it for the juice. And we're going to use the clams and mussels later.
The last thing we're going to add to this sauce before we start on the rest of it again, is all the liquor from cooking the mussels and clams. When you're cooking your mussels and clams again, save the juice. It's really good. One thing you want to do is, before you cook your shellfish, try to soak it in water.
Like nature does. So they plant kelp next to the fish farm-- the salmon farm. And next to the kelp they put mussels . All different layers of the food chain, working in conjunction to keep the ocean healthy.
I think there are like three or something working there. And so he grows blue mussels and then he collects a couple types of seaweed and sells to the local restaurants.
Definately, definitely. And I mean like a lot of other things, like for seaweed, for an example. This is actually-- he's the seaweed and blue mussel harvester that Gunnar works with. Can you talk a little bit more about him and his work?
While they were out there, collecting as many mussels as possible, Professor Li was nerding out and bagging some for future research. He was amazed by how hard it is to remove the mussels from the rock. He even needed a small crowbar to pry them away.
It would take 10,000 mussels to create a quarter of a teaspoon of glue proteins. And since we can't extract glue from mussels like we can milk from cows, Professor Li needed to invent a synthetic version that mimics the mussel 's grip.
Go for it with everything, because it's the most rewarding thing you could ever do. From what town? Musselburgh, just out-- Musselburgh!
Go for it with everything, because it's the most rewarding thing you could ever do. You've got strong people over there in Musselburgh.
If anybody hasn't ever cooked mussels and clams, what we really did is we're using it for the juice. And we're going to use the clams and mussels later. But basically we had a pan get really hot.
Might not like me. So again, to start mussels and clams, we cooked them in white wine. This is exactly what we use for the sauce.
oysters as you can stomach. Go today, and eat mussels tonight. There's a recipe for them in my book.
He added soy, which was actually common as a glue between the 1930s and 1960s until formaldehyde took over. Soy was used as a glue because it's inexpensive and abundant unlike mussel glue. But it isn't strong or resistant to water.
But it isn't strong or resistant to water. So by mixing together the best of soy and the best of mussel proteins, Professor Li was able to create a soy glue imbued with a Frankenstein mix of mussel strength.
Yeah, to take over, because they have to be the fourth. And he has told this story about how when Gunnar started placing his mussel orders, they were the only orders coming in.
Instead, bacteria are chemosynthetic, meaning they feed on the chemicals from the vents, and they serve as the base of the food chain there. Two-meter-long tubeworms, orange-shelled mussels , and fuzzy crabs all happily thrive around hydrothermal vents. Marine geologists study these ecosystems to try to figure out how life began on Earth, and how it might exist on other planets.
In 1999, Professor Li from Oregon State University was scouring the coast for blue mussels with his friends. While they were out there, collecting as many mussels as possible, Professor Li was nerding out and bagging some for future research. He was amazed by how hard it is to remove the mussels from the rock.
It's certainly an inventive solution, and perhaps there's some scientific trick waiting to be discovered there. OK, so we've covered mussels and their use as an inspiration for a new kind of glue. So let's go back to see another sea cuisine commonly served up at restaurants.
And so for people to be able to reproduce their own food, young Lebanese people, to reproduce their own food the way their mother cooked it, Well, one that I adore is the stuffed mussels in Turkey, in Istanbul or in Izmir.
But all I could see-- those beautiful tree-like extended tentacles were not extended. This is a simple-- I mean, I say simple because common-- mussel that I saw in a tide pool.
So something new and better was needed. In 1999, Professor Li from Oregon State University was scouring the coast for blue mussels with his friends. While they were out there, collecting as many mussels as possible, Professor Li was nerding out and bagging some for future research.
So what will happen when you put something in it like a sea bass or a half a chicken or some mussels or some paprikash?
And, well, you can see that there is a spent condom wrapper there to illustrate the size. And then if you look at page 168-- I just thumbed through there-- we were singing about cockles and mussels , and we got all kinds of cockles and mussels in this book if you're interested in those things.
I tend to notice that most books that talk-- most books about fishing, that mention fishing in any way-- there's a lot more than fishing in here. There's sea weeds and clams and mussels and everything. But there's a lot of fish talk in here.
We do a lot of things like that, go for mussels , clams.