You've probably had New Zealand green lipped mussels before, but the ones we had today in Russell, were amazing. Not only bright green, beautiful shells averaging 3.5-5 inches. They are one of the most important aquaculture crops for NZ, and considered the ultimate sustainable health food. For about 10 mussels, just 100 calories, 19g protein and 25% of your daily iron. They are farmed on long lines (seeds/eggs called spat are planted in the lines) then they hang out eating phytoplankton until they mature. They leave no environmental impact and there is plenty of phytoplankton hanging around the ocean for them to eat. 80% of the spat for the entire industry is collected from seaweed that washes up on 90 Mile Beach (actually only 55 miles long) at the northernmost west coast tip of NZ, just a few hours northwest of the Bay of Islands The other 20% is collected on lines near the commercial mussel farms. Compared to land based farming, the same area of mussel farm delivers 200x more protein!
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