MORELL, P.E.I. — It’s been 38 years since Esther Dockendorff shipped her first mussels from Prince Edward Island to Calgary, but she still re-members the address and postal code of that first customer.
A lot has changed since her first shipment of fresh mussels to Calgary’s Billingsgate Fish Company.
Today, Mussel King ships frozen, fresh, cooked and flavoured mussels around the world.
The company has become one of the largest producers of North American mussels since Dockendorff’s father, Russell, helped create the industry.
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P.E.I. ships 55 million mussels a year, and Mussel King produces one-quarter of the production, with a focus on value-added processing after the mussels are harvested.
This year, the plant expects to process 95,000 to 100,000 pounds of fresh mussels a week.
It recently installed equipment that injects flavoured sauce into cooked packages of mussels, including white wine and herb, chipotle, garlic butter, marinara and red curry sauces.
“You have to know your culture,” said Dockendorff. “There is no use going to China with chipotle.”
China has become one of Mussel King’s biggest markets with Dockendorff creating markets in a country that’s not always open to negotiating with women.
“People said I would never do it. Business is about believing in your product and being honest,” she said during a tour of the Mussel King facilities.
P.E.I. produces 80 percent of Canada’s cultured mussel production.
A frayed rope is placed in the ocean, on which tiny mussels attach and slowly grow. They are removed from the rope when they reach the size of a fingernail and placed in long socks of loosely woven mesh.
About 50 socks are attached to a line and placed back in the ocean for 12 to 18 months, where they grow until ready for harvest.
Mussel farmers lease their part of the ocean from the federal government, but can re-lease it to other producers.
The harvested mussels are cleaned, graded and packaged in the company’s plant beside the wharf and then shipped.
“Every year the market grows,” said Eugene Bernard, the raw end supervisor with Mussel King.
Most of the mussels in restaurants have already been cooked and flavour enhanced in the plant. The restaurant heats them in the microwave before they are served.
