Produits de la mer - n°181 - Avril 2018 - 70

News ❘ ON DAY-TO-DAY ❘ INNOVATION

Stuffed mussels: yes, but crunchy ones!

C.A.

It took us almost four years to find
the ideal edible shell, with the perfect
colour and shape, the perfect texture."

ALEXIA MÜLLER
MARKETING MANAGER, ESCAL

The exchanges between Escal's R&D team and
their supplier of salted wafer shells were many.
When too thin, the wafer could not hold together,
"because the shell shape of mussels is quite long,
almost 7 cm", and when too thick, "it became stodgy
in the mouth with the persillade." In the context of
this collaborative work, Escal had also demanded

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PRODUITS DE LA MER N°181 AVRIL 2018

Céline ASTRUC

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[ Project overview ]
Concept

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Rejuvenating the targeted public
for this traditional recipe by
making it a more playful and
user-friendly product. To savour
especially as an aperitif. Escal had
noticed that the aperitif section
in the frozen product department
was selling more, thanks to the
sales of snails in crispy shells
launched ten years ago.

Development
It took four years to develop the
edible shell in partnership with
the supplier of the beige wafer
snail shell and the Escal R&D team.
Which means two people: one
from the world of gastronomy,
the other, with a more technical
profile, looked at the constraints
involved by industrial production.
Even if the manufacturing of
this offer remains mostly hand
operated, the shells being filled
with icing bags by the 150 fulltime employees of the company.

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The similarity between crunchy stuffed mussels and
mussels stuffed in traditional shells is impressive. "It
took us almost four years to find the ideal edible
shell," says Alexia Müller, marketing manager for the
small company from Alsace. "We wanted the shape
and the colour to be perfect, we wanted it to be crisp
but robust enough to be held firmly."

natural ingredients, the absence of preservatives, of
artificial flavours and so on. "Concerning colour, we
needed colouring. The black comes from a natural
vegetable charcoal," adds Alexia Müller.
But the innovation being developed is not just about
the edible shell. The company also had to work on
the persillade. For traditional stuffed mussels, only one
recipe: butter, garlic, parsley. For crunchy stuffed mussels, Escal offers two: garlic and parsley or tomato with
basil. Even if butter is still present, it is less emphasized
"to facilitate handling and tasting, once put into the
oven for 12 to 14 minutes," underlines Alexia Müller.
"For all that, the product remains appetizing and flavours have been studied to be consensual."
Although Escal wants this new product to rejuvenate and boost a traditional recipe of French gastronomy, going too far is off the agenda. "The
twelve crunchy mussels are meant to be shared as
an aperitif, so the flavours must be appealing to a
majority of consumers," explains Alexia Müller. "Not
to mention that we hope to make this offer a basic
product in the freezer, not something mainly reserved
for party tables."
That said, the marketing manager's opinion is that
the official launch linked with the referencing of
hypermarkets, will be done in September rather than
before the summer. "Even if we are ready!"
In order to appeal to supermarkets and promote
oneself to the general public, the company from
Alsace has chosen to participate in several innovation competitions: the one proposed by M.A.D.E and
that of the PLMA fair. These events primarily target
buyers of private labels from the whole world. "But
buyers of national brand products also come to this
fair! We chose them because the timing was right.
The Sial is too late for us and on the Seafood Expo
Global, we prefer to focus on raw product ranges."
The adventure starts pretty well for Escal, which
has just been given the innovation prize "Recipe,
composition, ingredient" at the M.A.D.E. The company champions its product and as soon as it is present everywhere, "we will organize tastings to promote it." Not easy indeed to be identified in a food
department which the French are less interested in
and where supply is already plethoric. The company
recommends placing crunchy mussels on the aperitif shelf of the deep-frozen department, just like
the crispy shell snails launched ten years ago whose
consumption keeps increasing. And the recommended price of less than 5 euros for twelve stuffed
mussels should not hinder consumption of this product made in France, even if the mussel flesh comes
from Chile.

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To rejuvenate the consumer
target for stuffed mussels
and entice them to savour
them as an aperitif, Escal
has worked on an edible shell
and simple recipes.
Quite smart.

Launch
The packs have been designed
so that the use of the product
would be clearly understood.
Participation in the innovation
competitions of PLMA and
M.A.D.E and as a bonus, the
company obtained the innovation
prize for "Recipe, composition,
ingredient".

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