Thread: Mussels

I have been trying to find out the difference (from an eating perspective) between blue and green lip mussels but can't seem to come up with much. I have always thought that it was only the green lip that were any good to eat. Is this right? By the sound of it the blue mussel is eaten widely overseas.

Shearer from my experience the green are bigger and do seem to taste sweater.
Also I think that nz is the only place that green lips grow, although I seem to recall not finding any down south land way.
Still had some very nice dishes of the blue mussels over here in Europe And Chile.
Hope that helps.

Cheers @Sideshow. I used to collect mussels from a spot just north of Dunedin and I am pretty sure they were green lip.
I will have to collect some blue ones and do a taste comparison.

So as far south as Dunedin we looked for them when on Stewart island no green lips where found there

I'm an equal opportunity mussel chomper

The green lips are bigger and supposedly firmer while the blues(black) are softer and stronger flavored.....but like you I couldn't tell the difference.

One thing I know is that there are a lot more Blue/black ones around.

Greens grown on ropes = no sand.....


In Europe blues/black are the ones, and sometimes only about 20mm long. Bloody hard work to have a feed. Nice taste normally though.

In NZ growing up on the west coast, we used to light a fire on the beach, a bot of coro ironing top and cook the blue/black one on that. Bloody marvellous! Both the earring and the gathering from the rocks (finding stuff in rock pools etc....)


I'm with Tommy, I'd eat either.

Thanks for the info guys.
I remember seeing a doco on mussel farming a while ago and they were at pains to make sure there were no blue mussels in their crop but I can't remember exactly why. Good to know they are perfectly edible though as there seem to be plenty around.

Greens are grown for export as there is a correlation between big shells = big flesh blues can be a half empty shell. Taste is different I prefer the blues myself.... Spots where there are green on Stewart island but 95% are blues and heard bloody everywhere

Found a spot yesterday which is predominantly blue but there is a small group of green in amongst them.

The Greens are alleged to have some good medicinal properties, specially for Arthritis sufferers.

Originally Posted by Pengy

The Greens are alleged to have some good medicinal properties, specially for Arthritis sufferers.

There is a guy producing a really good product from green mussel extract, tripenol or something good for blood pressure and heart

i went to a seafood nightclub, i pulled a mussel