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100 ct
bushel @ 25 lbs.
Onset Bay
is located near the Cape Cod, Massachusetts
town of Wareham.
It is on the south side of the Cape,
near the mainland. They are wild oysters that go through a
management plan of sorts, in that they are transplanted from a soft
bottom area to a rocky bottom area when they are about one year
old. They spend another year in their new sub-tidal home
before being harvested with traditional East Coast hand
rakes. This rocky bottom helps the oysters develop the nice
round, deep-cupped shells they are known for, and the nutrient rich
water
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they grow in
provides them with the plankton they need to develop the full
meats they are known for. The combination of the two,
substrate and nutrients, produces a distinctive green tinged
shell. These being wild oysters, there is a regulatory season
in which the state of Massachusetts
permits their harvest. It runs from December 1 through April
1 every year, although they often become unavailable before
that. As the open season progresses, less and less oysters
remain and the catch reaches a point where what is caught is no
longer worth the return. This frequently happens as early as
the end of February. Onsets are salty and sweet with a crisp,
earthy finish.
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BARRON
POINT OYSTER - (Crassostrea gigas) October - June
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xs - 10dz/bu
@ 20 lbs, sm - 10dz/bu @ 30 lbs
Barron Point oysters are grown in Little Skookum Inlet, which is in
southern Puget Sound,
Washington. They
are grown in the rack and bag method by a small, family run
operation. What makes them most notable is that the grower is
doing the work required to keep the oyster densities down in the growout
bags, and they are flipping the bags regularly to keep the oysters
from piling up on top of each other. This in turn produces a
very nicely shaped oyster; round, deep cupped, and with well formed
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hinges.
The water in southern Puget Sound
is very high in nutrients and not too intensely salty. As a
result, the oysters taste mildly salty, and the meats tend to have
a lot of fat (glycogen) on them, making them plump and
sweet. They generally have so much sweet to them that
it sometimes masks the fruity aftertaste of the pacific oyster.
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HAMA
HAMA
OYSTER - (Crassostrea gigas) October - June
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xs - 10dz/bu
@ 20 lbs, sm - 10dz/bu @ 30 lbs
Hama Hamas are thick shelled, beach-grown oysters. The Hama
Hama River
is fed by the Olympic Mountains.
It flows into Hood Canals western shore roughly in its
mid-section. They are grown from naturally collected spat
that is seeded on the farms beds. They are slow growing
oysters that take three to four years to reach market size.
Because of this slow growth the flavor is delicate with a mild,
fruity aftertaste. They are fairly salty.
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OLYMPIA
OYSTER - (Ostrea lurida) October - May
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10dz/bx @ 5
lbs
Oly's are grown primarily in southern Puget Sound although a couple
of farms are growing them in bays along the northern California
coast. These are the native oysters of the West Coast.
Once very abundant naturally, they are now being cultured due to
over-fishing and pollution. Olympias, a perfect oyster for an
"oyster virgin," are sweet with a slight mineral finish
and a firm texture. The supply is increasing annually.
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The
Oly is a very slow growing oyster, sometimes taking five years to
reach market size, which is rarely larger than a fifty-cent piece.
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WESTCOTT
FLAT OYSTER - (Ostrea edulis) October - May
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10dz/bx @ 25
lbs
Westcott Flats are grown in beautiful Westcott
Bay
in Washington’s San Juan Islands, which
are located in northern Puget Sound.
They are grown in lantern nets suspended from the bay’s surface by
buoys. Each net is cylindrically shaped with ten trays per
net. The highest tray is in about two feet of water; the
bottom tray is in about twelve feet of water. The oysters
feed 24 hours per day this way, but they still require about three
years to reach market size. By leaving them in the
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water
for so long the farm accomplishes a number of things. They reach
a fairly large size for this type of oyster, but more important
than the size alone is that they have time to develop a cup and a
well-formed hinge. Too many farms growing flat oysters
harvest them too young and in so doing don’t give them time to develop
these two attributes.
The waters of the San
Juan’s are salty and nutrient rich, as they are directly
in the path of a current that runs from the Pacific Ocean and up
through Canada’s
Strait of Georgia. These
flats are quite firm in texture, but have a lot of glycogen (body
fat) on them, in fact an unusually large amount for this species of
oyster. As such, they are uncommonly sweet for a flat.
Tasting one of these beauties begins with a refreshing saltiness,
followed by a full-bodied sweetness, and finishing with a
distinctive mineral finish.
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EAGLE
ROCK OYSTER - (Crassostrea gigas)
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Eagle Rock’s
are an intertidally grown oyster from Totten Inlet, which is in
southern Puget Sound,
Washington. They
are introduced to the beach at a site distinguished by the imposing
Eagle Rock, a locally known perch for the impressive predator of
the same name. They are started in large mesh grow out bags
that are placed on the bottom. After about eight months they
are transferred out of the bags and onto the beach. They
finish their grow out as beach cultured oysters. They are
produced by a small, family run operation that is doing the
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difficult and
time-consuming work required to keep the oyster densities
low. This produces a very nicely shaped oyster; round, deep
cupped, and with well formed hinges. The water in southern Puget
Sound is very high in nutrients and not too intensely
salty. As a result, the oyster generally tastes mildly salty,
and the meats tend to have a lot of fat (glycogen) on them, making
them plump and sweet. They often have so much sweet to
them that it masks the fruity aftertaste common to the pacific
oyster.
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NETARTS
BAY OYSTER - (Crassostrea gigas) October - June
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xs - 15dz/bx
@ 30 lbs, sm - 10dz/bx @ 30 lbs
Netarts Bay
is a small, remote bay within the larger Tillamook Bay
in Oregon.
It is located about sixty miles south of the Columbia
River. The oysters have the appearance of a rack
and bag cultured oyster although they are in fact intertidally
bottom cultured. The pretty brown, cream, and purple colors
of their shell are generally not found on oysters grown this
way. They do, however, have the characteristically thick
shell of a beach-grown oyster. The meats have a very crunchy
texture and tend
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to fill the
shell nicely. They are only mildly salty, quite sweet, with a
pronounced cucumbery finish.
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YAQUINA
BAY OYSTER – (Crassostrea gigas) October – June
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xs - 10dz/bu
@ 20 lbs, sm - 10dz/bu @ 30 lbs
Yaquina Bay
is located on Oregon’s coast, just
south of Newport.
The bay is a tremendous site for oyster culture as it
exchanges a full 75% of its water with the Pacific
Ocean on every tidal cycle. This keeps the water
very salty and cold, and rich with nutrients. The
oysters are cultivated in mesh bags suspended about fourteen inches
below the surface by ropes attached to long lines. They have
a very nice appearance owing to the fact that they are not
subjected to the bleaching rays of
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the sun or the
abuses of waves beating on the beach. They are well cupped,
very clean, and have rich full meats. They are very
salty, very sweet, and have a distinctly fruity finish.
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KUMAMOTO
OYSTER - (Crassostrea sikamea) All year round
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10dz/bu @ 15
lbs
These oysters are originally from the Kumamoto
area of Kyushu,
Japan.
They are a very slow growing oyster that is small in size with a
very deep cup. This oyster has been raised in California,
Oregon and Washington
for over twenty years. However, Kumamoto’s
were never marketed on a large scale until the mid 1980's.
The Kumamoto
is rich in flavor, almost buttery, and slightly salty. The
finish is sweet, mildly fruity with a light mineral flavor.
This oyster is another "oyster virgin's" favorite.
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STELLAR
BAY OYSTER (Crassostrea gigas) October - June
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xs – 20
lbs/bag, sm – 30 lbs/bag
Stellar Bay is located
within Gorge Bay on the
west side of Cortes Island in British Columbia. Cortes
Island is at
the northern end of the Straight of Georgia. Stellar
Bay
oysters are raised from hatchery-produced seed in trays suspended
from the waters surface. Rigorous handling and attention to
grow out density produces oysters that have deep cups and full
meats. Stellar
Bay
oysters are generally quite salty, with a mild sweetness, and a
melon like aftertaste.
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EFFINGHAM
INLET OYSTER - (Crassostrea gigas)
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Effingham Inlet
oysters are grown in a remote deepwater site on the west coast of Vancouver
Island, inland from Barkley Sound. They are an
intensively cultured product of uniform size with nice deep
cups. The process starts on site with hatchery raised seed in
a Flupsy, or “floating upweller system”. This boosts the
oyster seeds’ growth rate by increasing water flow and feed.
When the oysters get a little bigger, they are transferred into
stackable plastic trays, which are then suspended from rafts.
They are conditioned from this time on
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by monthly
tumbling in a large stainless steel drum to break off new
growth. Lasting about one year, this phase produces the
deeper cups, harder shells, and consistent size that we
prefer. The waters of Effingham Inlet are salty and
nutrient rich, yielding oysters that are salty, plump and sweet,
finishing with a mild watermelon aftertaste.
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PARADISE
COVE OYSTER - (Crassostrea gigas)
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Paradise Cove
Oysters are suspended tray cultured oysters grown in Desolation
Sound, British Columbia.
During the summer the farm employs a technique best described as
sub-thermocline holding to ensure firm meat quality.
Desolation Sound is located at the northern reaches of the Straight
of Georgia, east of Cortes
Island.
The growing area is nutrient rich, and the result of this is
oysters that mature in one to two years that have firm, plump
meats. Their flavor starts out quite salty,
becomes sweet (thanks to the fat), and finishes with a watermelon
like aftertaste.
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STRANGES
BAY OYSTER - (Crassostrea gigas)
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Stranges Bay
oysters are beach grown from the shores of the Baynes
Sound region on the east side of Vancouver
Island. They are raised from hatchery produced
seed and mature in about two years. Their meats are quite
salty, and also very fat, thanks to the high nutrient level in the
water. This makes them plump and sweet. As with
all pacific oysters, they finish with a fruity aftertaste.
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