The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-20
SEA MUssELs
What They Are and How fo
 Cook Them.

With tempting. list of recipes, and backed by the experience of unique and successful campaign in Boston, the United States Bureau of Fisheries has undertaken to add a new article to the popular diet in the form of sea mussels., Since the middle of Jan uary, by the aid of Professor I. A Field, of Clark Univ versity. and Mr. Charles Doucot, chef of the Hotel Brunswick in Boston, the Federal gov ernment has succeeded in bringing this hitherto neglected sea food into such prominence that each Of a score OF more of Bostons most prominent hotels and restaurants now make it. a regular feature of their bills Of fare.
 thousekeepers have been quick to take advantage of the new opportunity. By means Of placards advertising sea muscles and bearing the endorsement Of the Bureau of Fisheries, the mar kets have exploited them extensively, Massachusetts towns and to Rhode Island. In order to promote the work more fully, the Federal agents have fassisted the dealers in arranging for i a supply. and the government will shortly hold demonstrations in the markets, serving mussels prepared in i various ways. ss The fresh mussels are of course the choice form, but several firms on both coasts now offer them canned in their town juice or pickled, in which form they retain their tenderness and most of their flavor.
 All of this is part Of comprehen- sive undertaking on the part of the Bureau of Fisheries to develop this country's fishery resources in the in terests of the public food supply. Ap- preciatfng that with the increasing I cost of meats the food requirements
 of the people must be met by a great ly increasing consumption of sea foods, the Bureau, through Professor Field,
 has for some time been collecting data and making laboratory experiments to fprove the wholesomeness and value of
 various neglected products. Among the most valuable of these unutiHzed
 resources are the enormous beds of sea musSe1s which extend along the
 Atlantic coast as far south as North Carolina and along the Pacific down to San Francisco. Why this delicious food hs been so
 neglected in America is not easily ex- piained. In Great Britain, Holland land France, millions upon millions of pounds of sea mussels are consumed
 annually, and in France and Holland i the demand necessitates Cultivation of
 mussels just as of oysters. But until
 recently the general public of the l United States has hardly known of l the existence of the sea musse1.
 The sea musse1 is closely related to the oyster and the clam It is not, however. to be confused with the tfresh-water mussel. As a nutritious land wholesome food it is equal to
 either the oyster the clam, and
 many persons regard it as superior
 in flavor. MT. Doucot, after the first Introduction of sea messels upon the menu of the Hotel Brunswick in Bos- ton, found his patrons immediately calling for more, and clubs and cafes and private homes increased the de- mand.
 The mussels exist in such abundance in such readily accessible places and they are so readily obtained by the 1 oysterman's regular equipment, that they can be put upon the market at lower cost than can either oysters or Ielams. They are at their best, more over when oysters are out of season, though they are in season all the year round.
 As a food they are economically good not only because of their high nutri-
 tive value and digestibility, but be-
 cause unlike the clam, all the meat
 is edible, and, because their shells are
 thin and regular, barrel of mussels
 contains more edible material than
 a barrel of oysters. A peck of mus
 sels in the shell will supply all the meat required for a meal for ten per