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If you eat mussels in Canada, chances are they came from Prince Edward Island, the centre of Canada's cultured mussel industry, which also supplies about 90 per cent of the cultured mussels sold in the United States.

But if you happen to live by the sea - and know where to look - you might find wild mussels yourself, nestled in the rocks and sand of the tidal zone. The ubiquitous molluscs can live in almost any temperate water, and have been found just 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole.

On a sunny weekday afternoon in the hamlet of Kimmirut, population 411, on the south coast of Baffin Island, Jeannie Padluq, her son Napatchie and grandson Tommy pile onto ATVs. They trace a winding gravel road to a small bay on the other side of the hill that shelters the town, where Ms. Padluq's husband, Eliyah, is waiting with a large boat.

They're heading to an island that the Padluqs discovered a few years ago. Only a few people in town know about it, and the exact location remains hidden.

Mr. Padluq pulls up at a nondescript piece of rock with no obvious landmarks. Ms. Padluq - a lithe and energetic woman in her 60s - runs ashore and kneels down by a tidal pool to point out the mussels. Blue mussels, dozens of them, cling to the sand and grit between the stratified rocks where the seawater has recently drained. More are hiding behind curtains of seaweed.

The sun is shining, there's no wind, and the temperature hovers around a brisk 6 C. But reaching into a tide pool to peel a mussel off the rock, my hands freeze almost instantly in the Arctic water. With just the mussels near the surface, we fill the equivalent of three five-gallon pails within about an hour.

We warm our hands drinking tea and eating bannock on the boat before heading back to town, chasing the tide.

To give the mussels a good cleaning, we toss the black shells into a large roasting pan in the Padluqs' kitchen. When it's full, Ms. Padluq pops the pan into the oven, with no fixings.

Moments later, velvety warm shellfish are piled on to the table. No sauce is required: The salty seawater provides more than enough flavour.

The rest of the mussels remain in the buckets, waiting to be delivered to friends and family in town.

Mussels aren't a staple here - they're a delicacy, just as a day of mussel picking is a treasured fall activity. The Padluqs guess that only a handful of families in Kimmirut go mussel picking.

Napatchie Padluq says his family has received requests for these mussels from several Iqaluit restaurants, but has always declined.

Among some consumers, commercially bought wild mussels are losing their appeal, as large quantities are often gathered through dredging, which can harm the sea floor. With this in mind, farmed mussels - such as those grown in PEI - get the thumbs up from SeaChoice, a national organization that promotes sustainable fisheries.

Arctic clams and mussels can be found at least halfway up Baffin Island, including the area around Iqaluit. Some test fishing has been conducted, but so far no commercial harvesting.