Musseling in to PEI

Going after the blue mussel in the cold waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Travel to Prince Edward Island from the Canadian mainland in New Brunswick is easy since the 8-mile-long Confederation Bridge opened in 1997. Our ride up to the north shore of the island from northeastern New Brunswick was quick, and we were able to check into our Bay Vista Motel room in the afternoon and spend some time getting to know the Cavendish area.

Prince Edward Island is popular with two divergent groups of tourists—mussel enthusiasts and Anne of Green Gables fans. The popular book and series is set on PEI, and the Green Gables brand is a strong one. We, though, were among the first category, mussel seekers.

And we found them the first night, at a very touristy spot called The Lost Anchor in Cavendish. The casual deck dining was packed, but our server was cheerful and helpful, warning us that it might take a while for our dinners. We settled in with some local Nova Scotia pinot grigio and enjoyed the wait.

The mussels are served with a bowl on top to keep them warm and then you have a container for the shells. Simple genius! This was my first time trying the local Caesar Salad that seemed to always contain bacon. They were sold out of the Burning Ship mussel variety so we tried the other two offerings and enjoyed the best mussels we ever tasted. Local!

Our stay at the Bay Vista came with an unadvertised perk—the property was right next door to the Raspberry Point oyster farm. The next day, I walked across the lawn to try to get on the 11 am oyster farm tour by boat, but the excursion was cancelled that day. There was a “Shuck and Learn” session scheduled for 1:00 that day, so I went back to the room and did some research until it was time. Only when I went back, no one was there except for a busy crew of oyster sorters in the back room. So, I took photos of the photos on the wall and got the gist of their operation.

Archival photos on the wall at Raspberry Point.

They are growing! A significant expansion is underway next to the current facility, so the next time I visit, I will surely find it more organized and ready for tourists.

John had spent his morning checking out the beaches that lined the coast along Prince Edward Island National Park. When we reunited, we had a quick tomato sandwich in the room before heading out to find what I had come to see—a mussel farm.

That visit was as unsatisfying as the oyster farm tour. The Prince Edward Aqua Farm was huge and not open to random people requesting access. The wholesale demand for PEI mussels is huge and these waters supply 80% of cultured mussels in North America.

Prince Edward Aqua Farm is a mega-sized aquaculture facility with wholesale distribution all over North America. The mussels and quahogs are sold out of the retail market. It's $2.00 a pound for the mussels..

After our disappointing visit to the aqua farm, we continued along the coast to Malpeque to try some of those renowned bivalves, where we lucked into the Malpeque Oyster Barn, a most unassuming-looking building right on the harbor in the tiny fishing village. We shared a dozen on the half shell and invited the able and congenial shucker to the National Oyster Shucking Contest in Maryland in October. I hope she comes!

The smiling shucker at the Malpeque Oyster Barn expertly opened the bivalves. We sat in a window overlooking the little harbor filled with fishing boats.

Malpeque oysters—at the source.

For our last night on PEI, we drove to Rustico and went to Pedro’s, a Portuguese chef’s Quonset hut restaurant. My seafood sampler dinner was excellent, and John focused on a big bowl of steaming mussels, with plenty of good dipping bread. Pedro was amiable and visited us at the table for a discussion about food and nutrition—and the pleasures of eating mussels.

Pedro's Restaurant was unassuming but served delicious seafood a side of friendly conversation. An amuse bouche of tomatoes and toast was tasty but had me missing Jersey tomatoes.

After dinner, we visited North Rustico Beach and walked along the shore, looking north over the salty waters toward Newfoundland and the top of the world.

Lighthouse at North Rustico Beach.