Zeeland mussel season underway; new batch hits stores this week

The Dutch Mussel Bureau officially opened the new mussel season on Wednesday. Symbolically the first basket of mussels was fished out in the Oosterschelde with a mussel trawler. The new crop will be available in supermarkets and restaurants starting this week. Last week samples from plots in the Oosterschelde and Wadden Sea proved that this year's mussels are once again of good quality. According to Nederlandse Dagblad, the mussels are slightly larger this year than the previous season. The fish weight is good and will only increase in the coming weeks. "The growth of the mussels is dependent on natural conditions", according to the Mussel Bureau. "They need about two years to ripen. From Wednesday the Zeeland mussel farmers started sailing to their plots in the Oosterschelde and Wadden Sea to bring their mussels to the Dutch Mussel Auction, NU reports. Every year the some 70 Dutch mussel farmers produce a total of about 50 million kilograms of mussels.