On Food and Cooking

farmed and marketed at 2.5 in/6 cm in less
than two years. The Mediterranean and
Atlantic species of Mytilus have
complementary habits; the Atlantic is in its
prime in the spring and spawns in the
summer; the Mediterranean is best in summer
and spawns in winter.
Mussels anchor themselves in the
intertidal zone by means of a thatch of tough
proteinaceous fibers called the byssus, or
“beard.” Where the clams have two similar
adductor muscles to close and hold the shells
tightly shut, the mussel has one large adductor
at the wide end and a small one at the narrow
end. The rest of the mussel body comprises
the respiratory and digestive systems and the
mantle. Sexual tissues develop throughout
these systems. Coloration depends on sex,
diet, and species; orange pigments from algae
and crustaceans accumulate more in female
and Atlantic mussels.
Mussels are the easiest molluscs to