What's the best way to get all the sand out of mussels?

Question

I made mussels last night and they came out great except some of them still had sand in them. I washed and rinsed them in a bowl of water 3 times and then scrubbed each of them and removed the beard. Obviously not good enough. I was thinking that maybe next time I should take them out and when they are open run each of them under cold water to try and get the sand out from the inside. Is that a good idea? and then proceed with what I did.

Answer 1

soak them in water for 20 minutes

when they take in the fresh water they spit out the sand

somepoepl even put 1 tbs flour into water to encourage the mussels to eat flour and spit out sand

it works

you will see all the dirt at the bottom of bowl

Answer 2

So far you've done everything right....just soak them a few more times.

Answer 3

Well, for next time.....

Soak mussels in a large bowl of tap water.  Sprinkle in a handful of plain flour and swish around w/ your hand.  Let them sit 30 min or so.  They take in the flour-water and it makes them disgorge their sand.  Drain and rinse.

Answer 4

Normally soaking them in fresh water would cause them to cough out all the sand, maybe need to soak them longer, adding some flour in the water would help too, be sure to soak them for 25-30 minutes & rinse in fresh water again, stand for another 5-10 minutes before taking them out. The whole process would take about 30-40 minutes.

Answer 5

Mussels don't live in the sand, so I'm not sure why you had a problem.