The 2012 mussel season commenced recently with the first harvest being led by mussel whisperer Andy Puglisi and a team of leading chefs and food media.

Kinkawooka mussels are characterised by their small size but intense, sweet flavour and soft, buttery texture. 

Following the success of the 2011 Delicious Magazine "product of the year" award, the team at Kinkawooka Shellfish in South Australia have again produced a small, seasonal crop of the unique French Style petit bouchot mussels.

The petit bouchot mussel has a unique soft and tender texture and although only available from May to September is highly sought after by chefs such as Neil Perry who states " this is the best eating mussel in Australia and one of the best I've eaten in the world".

Kinkawooka Shellfish have adopted growing and handling methods used in the traditional farming of mussels in the La Rochelle region of South Western France. These methods focus on keeping the mussels high in the water to maximize their intake of nutrients, which whilst limiting their shell growth, this produces a meat that is unparalleled in flavour and texture.

Like all of the Kinkawooka Mussel crop, the petit bouchot  are Seeded using spat harvested from the wild, the mussels are grown on long ropes suspended in the water from 2-10 metres. Although much shallower than mussels farmed in oceanic conditions, the Kinkawooka team adopted this method in pursuit of producing a small, soft and sweet mussel.

The Kinkawooka mussel farms are located in 5 separate locations throughout Boston Bay, on the West Coast of South Australia. The spread of sites allow the farmers to exploit the various microclimates of the growing sites to condition the mussels to a consistent size, flavour and texture profile.

The Kinkawooka Marine team have been trained to the same sensory level as the processing and marketing teams - prior to every harvest, mussels from each site are tasted and assessed for their eating quality.

At Kinkawooka , under the stewardship of owner Andy Puglisi, the entire team are focussed on producing the best eating mussel in Australia, to them it's all about being Small, Soft and Sweet.

This year's new season celebration is made even more exciting as Kinkawooka has successfully passed Friend of the Sea sustainability audit and its products will soon reach the shelves displaying the coveted international ecolabel.

Director General of Friend of the Sea, Paolo Bray said "Kinkawooka's programme is a standout of sustainable aquacutlure. They harvest wild spat, which is plentiful in this area, utilizing low density mussel farming techniques.The open farming system has no impact on the countryside. Annual benthic video transect monitoring and reports are required for each lease, as well as an analysis of data, to ensure that there are no impacts on the ecosystem and no cumulative impacts from ropes of mussels on the benthic ecosystem."

He has further praised the Kinkawooka team for thier post harvest committment to sustainability "At the processing facility, there is no waste from the harvesting and processing of mussels with any damaged or unsuitable mussels being segregated during the various inspection points and then transferred to a crusher, where it is sealed into burley packages.. Additionally, the company recycles plastic, cardboard and other waste into special recycle cages and bins kept on site. Only biodegradable chemicals are used. Kinkawooka Mussels only use environmentally-friendly antifoulants." " this is true committment to the environment"

Welcome to the 2012 Kinkawooka Mussel season - small, soft, sweet and sustainable. (material supplied by Kinkawooka Mussels)