"Les moules de Bouchot" from Pénestin
The current gold of the small coastal town is the mussels! The bouchot parks have earned Pénestin the "Site Remarquable du Goût" classification, national recognition for this emblematic product of Pénestin!
The "bouchots"
Along a considerable length of the coastline at Pénestin, you can see at low tide a strange sight : row upon row of neatly spaced posts emerging from the waves… known locally as ‘des bouchots à moules’, erected as from the end of the XIXth century it is upon these posts, or ‘bouchots’ that the mussel farmers ‘grow’ the bi-valves so famous for their outstanding quality.
A high quality produce
It is the richness of the pure and highly oxygenated waters of the river Vilaine’s estuary which are at the heart of the superior quality of the mussels from Pénestin. Today thirty or so farms produce 4000 tonnes of exceptionally high quality produce to the gourmet delight of foodies throughout the summer season.
The five necessary steps at the Bouchot mussel farm
1 - Capture, from April to May: it is the collection of spat on ropes installed on cages submerged in the sea.2 - Stuffing: consists of wrapping ropes of spat (young mussels in the larval state) around the piles. This is how we can gradually replenish the space left by fishing for marketing.
3 - The growth lasts between 12 and 18 months allowing the growth of the mussels on the bouchots thanks to the food of the Vilaine and the tides.
4 - "Catinage" consists of protecting mussels from bad weather with nets as they grow
5 - Fishing, from June to December, is the collection of mussels carried out by flat boats called barges equipped with fisherwomen.
