June Oyster of the Month

Heads up Shucker!

These choice oysters arrive in their natural state with mud from the waters and could use a quick rinse if you prefer to serve clean shells. We do not rinse these in advance because it encourages them to open.

In the heat of the summer our beloved Canadian oysters begin to loose their briny taste and plump texture. For this upcoming Independence Day we went All-American with salty oysters from Maine. You will most likely want to use the mignonette with each of these oysters and maybe throw a few on the grill this July 4th! We suggest topping with a bbq butter; just mix softened butter with your favorite bbq sauce, top onto your shucked oyster and grill for 7-8 minutes on low heat. Don’t forget some good crusty bread for the all the delicious butter sauce!

SALTY MAINER OYSTERS

Salty Mainer oysters are a medium oyster, cup full of meat, and a very bright brine. This strong brine will take you straight to the ocean. You will see that the shells are different in sizes and take more care in opening because they are wild grown in sand and mud.

• Specie: Crassostrea virginica

• Origin: Damariscotta River, Maine

• Water Temperature: average 53°

• Tides: Damariscotta River; tidal river with large 10-foot tides

• Wild: 4 years

• Average Size: 3-3.5 inches

• Available: April-December

FLAVOR PROFILE

Salty, buttery cream with a more clean, sweet finish.

Suggested Pairing: Ginger Beer, Moscow Mules or Cider

BRINE INTENSITY

Medium High

GROWOUT METHOD

Grown in floating cages until they reach about 2” and then bottom planted for the final grow-out giving them their hard, deep-cupped, easy to open, beautiful shell.

GROWER

Atlantic Aqua Farms provide product that has been raised, harvested and processed in an environmentally sustainable manner.

How to shuck an oyster? <—Click to watch this video!

May Oyster of the Month

Hi Shucker!

Oysters are arriving just in time for the Memorial Day holiday! For the month of May we are sampling the most northern oyster available from the east coast of Canada, Merasheen Bay from Newfoundland.

MERASHEEN BAY OYSTERS

Merasheen Bay oysters are a boutique cocktail oyster, cup full of meat, a burst of lingering salinity on the front with a mélange of seawood notes and slight minerality. Expect a long-lasting fresh ocean finish. They are noted for their strong shell, easy to find hinge and always clean ~ inside and out.

• Specie: Crassostrea virginica

• Origin: Rustico, Newfoundland, Canada

  • Nestled into a cold pristine bay on Merasheen Island, the Merasheen Bay oyster was born. It’s because of the frigid waters, Merasheen oysters take a bit more time to grow than a typical oyster lifecycle but the rewards are well worth the wait.

• Water Temperature: 2°-20°

• Tides: 6-8 feet high; currents come from Labrador Sea and the Arctic

• Farmed: 4 to 5 years

• Average Size: 2.5-3 inches

• Available: Year-round

FLAVOR PROFILE

Seaweed, salt and the crisp, clean sea.

Suggested Pairing: Sparkling Rose or Pilsner

BRINE INTENSITY

Medium

GROWOUT METHOD

The specific method is not disclosed. The Merasheen Bay oysters grow inside the rolling rocky banks of Merasheen Island. Seawalls of kelp and seaweed covered rocks in the bay with a history of fishing for cod and crab in the area.

GROWER

Owner/Operator, Juan Roberts, Iceberg Select Company

How to shuck an oyster? <—Click to watch this video!

Oyster Reproduction 101

One of the most commonly asked questions I receive while shucking oysters at parties are, how do oysters reproduce?

Very differently from you and I. Oysters are not exactly male or female. They are protandric which means they can change from male to female over their life. Oysters start off as male and then turn to female for the majority of their lifespan.

During an oysters spawning season, the young male releases his sperm and the older females release their eggs. Sometimes up to hundreds of million eggs. One the met they develop larvae.

Larvae takes 6 hours to develop and a few weeks to settle into another oyster shell or rocky place. Now they are spat and take one year to mature. Once mature they can begin reproducing yet not always ready to be harvested for consumption.

Texas Legalized Oyster Farms →

Sometimes its better to share the news than to recreate. Source: HoustoniaMag.com by Gwendolyn Knapp

Read Full Article Here!

Excerpts: “We haven’t needed to farm oysters because we have a viable -oyster industry. The Gulf Coast—primarily Texas and Louisiana—produced 51 percent of all oysters in America in 2017, and the 2018–19 wild-oyster season was the strongest in several years.”

…over the past decade Texas has lost a good portion of its natural reefs—those in Galveston Bay alone have decreased by more than half—thanks to both acts of God and over-fishing. Restoration efforts are underway, but they’ll take decades, and hundreds of millions of dollars, to complete. Which is why in 2017 proponents from Texas A&M, the Texas Restaurant Association, the Coastal Conservation Association, and elsewhere began working with legislators and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to draft a bill that would legalize oyster farming.

The Harte Research Institute estimates that farmed oysters will soon bring in $2 million a year in Texas. They’ll help keep our bays clean and reduce stress on our natural reefs. They could even bring in tourists one day, like the oyster farms on the East Coast, which attract foodies seeking out new bivalves to try. “That’s an angle we’re looking at, bringing in the community and giving a tour, like a wine vineyard,” says Raz Halili, owner of Prestige Oysters, who plans to give farming a try. As for whether we’ll be able to taste the difference between boutique oysters and those dredged from public reefs? We’re certainly willing to do all the taste-testing required to find out.

Something that was not mentioned was how we have been harvesting oysters. Dredging: a dredge which is towed along the bottom of the sea by a fishing boat in order to collect oysters. Texans have been dredging oysters from the beginning which is a very disruptive method to the natural reefs and habitat species. Changing this alone will make large impact on our reefs. Get excited! We need to take care of our Texas Gulf waters. I know I would like to see cleaner waters and beaches in Texas.

Tourists!? I’d love to know what everyone thinks about that one…livelihood for some, imperative - yet, I know many search for that escape on the Texas Gulf. It will be interesting to see this development and instead of wine+oyster farm tours like our Pacific and Atlantic neighbors it will be beer buckets and oyster shooters!

Why are Gulf oysters less expensive?

For many of us reared in Texas, your first and only oyster experience may likely be from our Texas shore, the large Gulf oyster. Gone are the days of the 50 cent all you can eat Gulf oyster bars; yet these are still much more affordable than are neighboring Pacific or Atlantic oysters.

Why is that? Well, sure, Texas Gulf oysters aren’t being imported, though they are still travelling inland for most of us Texans. It majority comes down to their life span. Gulf oysters take only 6 to 12 months from spit(seed) to maturity(time to slurp down)! The smaller Pacific and Atlantic oysters which offer a huge punch of sea flavor take anywhere from 4-6 years average growth time before they come to market! Six years! I can’t even keep a cactus alive for that long.