The vast majority of mussels you find in Jersey's restaurants come from the Jersey Oyster Company's areas in the Royal Bay of Grouville.

We grow some of these mussels from seed on wooden poles, a traditional method prevalent in the Brittany and Normandy regions of France. They are called 'Bouchot' mussels and are available from mid-summer each year. With a particularly sweet and succulent flavour, they are very much in demand throughout their short season. They are always grit free because they never come into contact with the seabed. Between June and September, mussel seed is bought from Ireland where it has been settled onto ropes. These ropes are wound in spirals around the Bouchot poles. The mussels continue to grow during the winter and the following spring.

We harvest the mussels in July and August using our amphibious mussel barge. The grab on the crane scoops the mussels up off the pole. Then they are washed and graded before being sold locally.