Grapes forming

It was good to be able to but really fresh fish and shellfish again. Today, I bought the usual lemon sole, squid, salmon, mussels and brandade (salt cod garlic mash). Today's mussels were especially sweet and succulent.  I only buy the mussels in the summer months when the moules de bouchot are available. According to legend, the Irishman Patrick Walton, the only survivor of a shipwreck in 1235, sought to survive on the Charente coast. He is said to have planted two stakes, a net, in an attempt to catch birds and fish. A colony of mussels clung to the net. The survivor planted two, then four, then six ... Bouchots are born from the contraction of "bout choat" (wooden fence). The main feature is to avoid contact with the ground, therefore with sand and any other parasites such as crabs. The harvest takes place from July to March, the season when mussels are most abundant. The cultivation of moules de bouchot is practiced on the Atlantic coast or in the English Channel, on rows of posts. In spring, the ropes are stretched horizontally to collect the young mussels. At the end of summer, the ropes are wound in a spiral around the bouchots.