Wholesale
Cromane Mussels
Mytilus edulis
Castlemaine Harbour holds the largest natural mussel bed in Ireland. Mussel cultivation has been a traditional activity in Castlemaine Harbour and it goes back 4 generations. Wild mussel seed (spat/juveniles) is harvested from local seed beds and transferred to prime growth areas known as nursery grounds.
Our mussels are then harvested 2 years later by hand dredging.
*subject to seasonal availability.
Cromane Oysters
Crassostrea gigas
Grown in bags on trestles on our farm in Cromane, County Kerry. The trestles keep oysters above the sea floor, giving them the best position to filter feed the natural nutrients found in the waters of Cromane. We condition our oysters by sorting, grading and shaking the oyster bags. This helps removes any extra growth, giving an oyster its desired shape.
Our oysters take 3 years to grow, from seed to adult. A lot of love goes into the growing, but it’s all worth it.
Purification Facility (Approval Number: IE KY 0036 EC)
Realt na Mara Shellfish Purification Facility, fully approved in accordance with Regulation (EC) 882/2004. We have an extensive consistent sampling regime, put in place by the Sea Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) (www.sfpa.ie) and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) (www.fsai.ie) testing for e-coli, salmonella, norovirus and bio toxins.
Our shellfish are harvested from our farm and then brought to our purification facility. Here the shellfish are graded and pre-washed. All bivalves then go through purification.
Depuration (purification) is a process by which shellfish are held in tanks of clean seawater which is pumped through UV bulbs. Our oysters are purified for 42 hours and our mussels for 36 hours.
