The Pickled Mussels is a delicious appetizer, especially if the mussels come from the Rias Gallegas, the cradle where the best seafood in Europe is found.
The mussel is a bivalve mollusk that lives anchored to the ground and is fed by water filtration, through which it absorbs its nutrients.
There are many varieties of Mejillón and there are both saltwater and freshwater, although the first are the best known and the most consumed.
Among the varieties of salt water there are those that live in areas of breakers and tides, so they spend submerged moments and others do not; there are those who live at shallow depth and there are those who live at great depths, but always in clean waters with plenty of calcium that they need for the formation and growth of their shells or leaflets.
The mussel, like most mollusks, must be cooked while still alive, as it tends to decompose rapidly when it dies.
The mussel that is alive closes tightly when it feels threatened, while the one that is dead remains open.
Once the mussel is cooked, it is open, while if it is kept closed it is that this specimen was dead before being cooked and must be discarded.
The mussel for its feeding based on filtration of large amounts of water, is very prone to contamination, even by algae that are toxic to humans, and therefore is subjected to a purification process after capture, which eliminates that pollution and fully guarantees its consumption.
The size of the mussel is also very variable, and does not always have an exact correlation with the size of its leaflets and according to the size of the animal they are classified, according to some authors in,
Large mussel: Up to 110 pieces per Kg.
Medium Mussel: Up to 140 pieces per Kg.
Small mussel: Up to 300 pieces per Kg.
Given how widespread the consumption of mussels is, it is normal that the different culinary recipes used for consumption in different countries around the world are infinite.
The most common are its preparation steamed and arranged later or simultaneously with spices, or combined with other products in the preparation of dishes.
Precisely because of this enormous diffusion of the Mussel, it is therefore also common for multiple forms of preservation and presentation for sale, from bagging and frozen, to canned, cooked to the natural or as is more frequent, at least in Spain, as Mussels pickled.
The recipe for Pickled Mussels is better known to canned consumers than made at home, but the truth is that these canned foods are exquisite.
The preparation of the Pickled Mussels takes the use of paprika, extra virgin olive oil, bay leaf, white wine and vinegar.
You can buy Marinated Mussels online through our Gastronomic Spain page.
