Muscles

[Misty Blue]

Question?

Why do sea muscles taste so good and the muscles from the Lake taste like old rubber bands?

OK all of you gastromes, let me in on this.

Misty Blue

[The Eagle]

Hi Misty Blue..
Did you actually try to EAT mussels from the lake? I only use lake mussels for "Bait,"! I wouldn't even "Experiment" eating one from any lake!
The Eagle

[Jonas Pilot]

I tried one once. I thought the same as Misty. It shouldn't be too much different than a salt water muscle. I've had a lot of raw clams, oysters and muscles. Fresh water muscles rate right up there with all of them except for taste and texture. I'm guessing there must be a way to make fresh water muscles edible. Having one raw definitely isn't one of them.

[TomC]

People find the taste of salt appealing.. i imagine the first thing "wrong" with the taste of a freshwater mussel arises because they didn't live in and become infused with salt water. I find the same thing to be true about freshwater fish when i (rarely) eat it.

[Jonas Pilot]

Tom might be on to something. I agree with the muscles because they're a filter feeder. I'm not sure though that saltwater fish come "pre-brined". If you ever ate some of my white perch you might change your mind about freshwater fish.

Freshwater Mussels in New Hampshire: Hidden Treasures of Our Lakes

des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/bb/.../bb-55.pdf

[TOAD]

Septic runnoff. :cool:

[Just Sold]

From the NHDES web site:

Throughout history, freshwater mussels have been used by humans as important components of tools and jewelry. Native Americans also used freshwater mussels as a supplemental food
source. Although most species are edible, freshwater mussels are not as tasty as their saltwater relatives. In addition, since they are long-lived filter feeders, pollutants can easily settle and buildup inside them, making them distasteful and potentially unhealthy for human consumption.
However, fresh-water mussels are eagerly consumed by other members of the food chain,
including raccoons, otters, and aquatic birds. Mussels also serve the aquatic ecosystem by
filtering debris out of water, making the aquatic environment more suitable for other freshwater
life.

This link should work for the full fact sheet:
http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/bb/documents/bb-55.pdf

[Greene's Basin Girl]

I only see old muscles in the lake that have been already been opened. Has anyone recently seen "fresh" muscles in L. Winnipesaukee?

[Misty Blue]

We have a family of mink that live at our (and our friends) shore line who eat them all Winter. They like the open water around my dock. In the Spring there are many empty shells all around the dock.

A few years ago we had some otters who would take them and break them open with rocks against their bellies and eat them. Way cool!

I was just curious. Do you think that Kraft Viva-Itailian would do the trick?

Misty Blue

[AC2717]

I only see old muscles in the lake that have been already been opened. Has anyone recently seen "fresh" muscles in L. Winnipesaukee?

the sand bar behind bear island has a lot of them, still closed. my daughter and i dive for them (you know that whole 2-6 feet) and examine them and then drop them back in.
She is 5, it is fun!

[gtxrider]

Many years ago (1969) a friend of Italian descent ate the muscles in tomato sauce. I did not eat any since I am not a fan of the little slimy things be from fresh or salt water.

P.S. there are live muscles off of Sandy Point.

[NoRegrets]

There are plenty of the living mussels that you can see in the Irwin Marina in Guilford. They "walk" on their "foot" and leave a crooked mark in the silt behind our boat. In the winter they become food for either otters or mink that fish them out and snack on them from swim platforms. You will see a consolidation of shells at the end of the boats in the spring.

[Gavia immer]

We have a family of mink that live at our (and our friends) shore line who eat them all Winter. They like the open water around my dock. In the Spring there are many empty shells all around the dock.

A few years ago we had some otters who would take them and break them open with rocks against their bellies and eat them. Way cool!

I was just curious. Do you think that Kraft Viva-Itailian would do the trick?

Misty Blue
Decades ago, mink were probably restricted to natural open water areas after "Ice-In". Today, with circulators everywhere, mink have flourished on the lake's mussels.

Since crayfish are also on the mink's diet, I think the reason some lakefront proprty owners have "no crayfish" is that they have circulators/bubblers operating nearby.

[Grant]

Mussels are filters. So if you're looking for a good source of everything gross in the Lake, chow down.

If you wouldn't eat lake trout because of mercury levels, why would you eat a filter that soaks in all manner of septic runoff, animal scat, mercury, petroleum, phosphates, etc., etc., etc.?

(Not that I haven't been tempted many times over the years...and, yes, I have tried the crayfish -- not really comparable to the mudbugs so coveted in Louisiana...) :(

[JTA]

A number of years ago a friend of my son (who happened to be a dedicated Boy Scout), collected some muscles and decided to cook up a muscle stew. It was terrible but edible. Maybe in this economy ..... ?

[DBreskin]

Just for clarification:

Muscle - 1. a tissue composed of cells or fibers, the contraction of which produces movement in the body or 2. an organ, composed of muscle tissue, that contracts to produce a particular movement.

Mussel - any bivalve mollusk, especially an edible marine bivalve of the family Mytilidae and a freshwater clam of the family Unionidae. (shellfish)

[Misty Blue]

Gavia immer:

What a good point! My pals and I have noticed a real reduction in the crafish population in recent years. I was guessing that it was due to the increase of the loon population.

Years ago we had the only aquatherm in the neighborhood and had many crayfish. Now almost everyone has one and the crayfish are gone.

There are crayfish on Glines island. (Well, not exactly "on" the island) and they live in the loon sanctuary. Lot'sa loons, lot'sa crayfish and no aquatherms! I think that you hit the nail on the head! Thanks!

BTW, D Breskin: How right you are! Sorry, my phonex sux!

Misty Blue