Accidentally froze live mussels - can we still cook them?

[AdalbertWaffling]

My DH bought some mussels today (fresh, alive, still in shells) and he put them straight in the freezer (for some reason) even though we were planning on cooking them tonight! We've just taken them out, but they've been in there for about 3 hours so I think they have actually frozen, can we still cook them? Or do we now have to chuck them? I know you're supposed to cook mussels while they're still alive, but I don't want to waste them if they'll be fine!

OMG frozen alive 😲

Is frozen alive worse than boiled alive? I meant that they weren't already cooked

No!

I wouldn’t think there’s any issue with it, and I would eat them once they were cooked well.

Do you really boil them alive ordinarily?

Do not eat! not envy

I don't think you can, because the way you check through a bag of live mussels for the odd dead one is by tapping them to see if they close. Since you've killed them all by freezing them, you've no way of knowing if you had a few dead ones in there, and just one is enough to give you really nasty food poisoning.

@Shockers Yes, you need to cook mussels while they're still alive as then you discard any that don't open up as that means they were dead before cooking so could be bad.

The consensus looks to be no to cooking them now, thanks everyone! Google is giving mixed info, so wanted other opinions!

@SarahAndQuack Cross post, that's what I was thinking too. Takeaway it is tonight! Thanks everyone!

I once had terrible food poisoning from eating a dead mussel, don’t put yourself through it!

@AdalbertWaffling, if you do cook mussels from fresh, it's definitely worth gently tapping them before cooking to see if they close. Yes, closed ones that don't open when they're cooked are dead and have to be discarded, but sometimes they die with the shell slightly open, and you also want to get rid of those ones.

I've had dramatic food poisoning when someone cooked me bad mussels so I am slightly evangelical about it.

Oh, sorry, cross posted with your cross post, so sorry if preaching to the choir.

Enjoy the takeaway!

I've had dramatic food poisoning when someone cooked me bad mussels so I am slightly evangelical about it
I didn’t realise this was even a thing!

Oh, it really is. Bleugh.

All sounds quite revolting.

Enjoy your takeaway!