Show us your mussels

Undaunted by turbulent tides, these magnificent molluscs are delectable when served in pots with fries, but even better paired with Asian flavours, says Tom Parker Bowles

- Tom Parker Bowles

THERE seems, at first glance, to be precious little linking the mussel and the mouse. One is an edible bivalve mollusc that dwells in waters both salted and fresh. The other, a furry rodent with a penchant for cheese. Yet the word ‘mussel’ is derived from the Latin word mus, meaning mouse. Not because the shellfish squeaks, runs up clocks or can be fried up and given to children as a cure for bedwetting (yes folks, get your arcane folklore remedies here). Rather, the shell resembles the body of a mouse. Seriously, put a picture of the mussel on its side, add ear, eye, whiskers and a tail, and the connection becomes clear.

Unlike the mouse, however, the mussel is near universally loved; cheap, endlessly adaptable and packed with piscine power. Where there is water, you’ll usually find mussels— Arctic to Antarctic, Caribbean to South China Sea, rivers, streams and lakes. They’re a hardy bunch, those mussels, some delighting in turbulent tides and crashing surf, others lolling in saltmarshes and quietly limpid bays. You’ll find them clustered, miles below the surface, around hydrothermal vents, and clinging, tenaciously, thanks to threads of self-produced byssus, to lonely outcrops of jagged rock.