Mussels (moules) have been farmed in the Poitou-Charentes for the past 800 years or so – ever since Irishman Patrick Walton who lived in the region attached nets to wooden stakes hammered into the seabed to catch birds. The stakes became covered in mussels, and a new industry was born. He called his nets ’bout choats’ and today the mussels of the region are known as moules de bouchot.
They are farmed in this traditional way – wooden stakes, still covered in bark, are stuck into the tidal zone off the coast, stretching 50-100m into the water and around them ropes are strung in a spiral shape, with netting helping to keep the mussels attached. Over a period of months the mussels attach themselves to the nets and after two years or so are harvested.
In the Poitou-Charentes, there are two popular ways of eating your mussels. There’s a mouclade sauce that’s made with butter, garlic, shallots, white wine, curry powder and saffron. The other, more unusual way, is called eclade – here the mussels are cooked with burning dried pine needles, the scented smoke and resin from the pine adding an extra layer of flavour. Often done on the beach, you will find eclade on restaurant menus along the coast, especially in La Tremblade and the surrounding area and on Île d’Oléron.