Penn Cove Shellfish
Penn Cove Mussels, Inc. was established by the Jefferds family in June of 1975, in Coupeville Washington, and is the Oldest Commercial Mussel Farm in North America. Eleven years later the company was purchased by the Jefferds brothers, Ian and Rawle along with Ian's wife Karen. And in 1996 the company formed a joint venture with Coast Seafoods Company (America's largest oyster farm) the HAACP certified joint venture currently known as Penn Cove Shellfish, LLC. Since the day we were established, our mission at Penn Cove Shellfish has been to be the premier producer and provider of the finest sustainably farmed shellfish products in the market today. Penn Cove Shellfish LLC. remains as the oldest and largest mussel farm in the United States, and our mussels have won top honors at international taste test competitions for their sweet flavor and fabulous texture. Along with our delicious Penn Cove Mussels, we farm Mediterranean Mussels, Manila Clams and Pacific Oysters. Additionally we distribute 26 varieties of Pacific Oysters and Kumamoto Oysters which we receive from allied growers of the region. Penn Cove is located 2 hours north of Seattle in Coupeville, Washington on scenic Whidbey Island and was chosen as our initial mussel farm site due to its unique hydrological and geographic features. Penn Cove is the most prolific mussel growing area on the West Coast due to our proximity to the Cascade Mountains and the geographical shape of Penn Cove which captures the snow melt of fresh mountain river waters and the minerals they contain. Those factors combined with the sunshine provided by the rain shadow effect of the Olympic Mountains tends to turn Penn Cove into a bay of nutritious plankton soup to feed and grow our mussels and other shellfish.