“Dear God, our Heavenly Father, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth: May we who are gathered here be mindful of our responsibilities to Thee. We know that for hundreds of thousands of years You created, propagated and cared for the product of our great industry—the oyster.

May we be mindful of our task in these later years of being Thy stewards of the oysters available for our endeavor.

Forgive us when we tend to think Your oysters are only for our use.

Forgive us when we think in selfish terms as to what we can get out of Your oysters rather than what we can do with them.”

How did the Japanese Oyster become American?

Society for the History of Technology annual meeting, Tacoma, 2010

Matthew Morse BookerNorth Carolina State University

To be a full-fledged ostreaphile—an oyster lover—you can’t just pound Kumamotos or Wellfleets all the time. You need to explore the full range of styles and varieties. Different oysters, after all, work best as beer accompaniments, culinary stars, or exotic curiosities. This alphabetical list of twelve prominent varieties provides a good representation of the classic types.

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These small oysters are grown in floating trays in the harsh New Brunswick climate. Always petite and clean-flavored, in classy black-and-white shells, Beausoleils make ideal starter oysters, with the delightful yeasty aroma of Champagne or rising bread dough.

No oyster comes close to the power of the European Flat (often called Belon, after the famous French oyster of the same species). It is brassy, in every sense of the word. Brassy because it tastes like metal, and because it is shamelessly bold, and because when it hits your tongue it slaps you awake like the opening blast of a bugler’s reveille. Try one if you can—just don’t make it your first oyster.

Light is a term often ascribed to PEI oysters. Sometimes it’s a negative, indicating a lack of body and flavor. Sometimes, as with Colville Bays, it means transcendent. Colville Bays have plenty of body but also an addictive lemon-zest brightness. They are the oyster most likely to make you order another dozen. The dusky jade shells, when piled high, achieve the luminosity of moss on a rain-forest stump.

Native Americans ate Damariscotta River oysters for a millennium, as the hill-sized middens along its upper banks confirm. The extremely cold, salty water produces slow-growing oysters with fantastic texture and brine at the upper end of the register. These are the soft pretzels of the oyster world, chewy and salty and heaven with a cold beer.

The oyster that put the fruit back in fruits de mer. Kumamotos are famously melon-scented, sweet, and firm, with none of the bitter or muddy aftertaste that makes some oysters challenging. Closely related to the Pacific oyster, which also was imported from Japan, Kumos stay small and deep-cupped, and are revered by beginners and pros alike.

Some of the most savory oysters in the world come from a geographical arc running from the eastern end of Long Island, along the ragged Rhode Island coast, to Block Island, Cuttyhunk, and Martha’s Vineyard: the line marking the terminal moraine of the most recent glacier. Along that arc, mineral-rich waters produce salty oysters with unparalleled stone and iron flavors, of which Moonstone is the reigning king.

Beausolei Néguac, New Brunswick

Belon or European Flat Provenance Varies

Colville Bay Souris River, Prince Edward Island

Glidden Point Damariscotta River, Maine

Kumamoto California, Oregon, Washington, and Mexico

Moonstone Point Judith Pond, Rhode Island

Artwork for CHOW by Bryan Christie Design (not actual size)

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Inflation-adjusted restaurant price of one oyster in New York and Boston, 1840-2005

G. Lee, A. Norton, A. Robichaud, and M. Booker, Spatial History Project http://www.stanford.edu/group/spatialhistory/

Burton W. Huntoon, “Oyster Growing Near Bellingham,” The Coast September 1902

Unloading Atlantic seed oystersDrayton Harbor, Washington 1907

Samish Bay Japanese oyster growers?

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Bamboo spat collectors to right, adult grounds in front: Near Hiroshima, ca. 1902

Bamboo spat collectors, Kusatsu, ca. 1904

JAPANESE OYSTER-CULTURE. 27they are taken from the ground by means of the rake shown in fig. 15, placed inbaskets, fig. 18, and carried thence in the usual oyster boat often to the mouth ofsome adjacent river, where they are thrown out and raked over. By the latter pro-cess, "drinking" the oysters in fresher water, they increase in size and becomecleaner, a process, by the way, quite similar to that employed in France, in England,and often in America. .

FlO. lB.-Oyster hook used for dislodging well-grown oysters from.the shibi.

At Kanawa, an important cultural ground, a similar method to that of KaidaBay is employed. T'he cultural area isnot large but it is very productive, and herethey have found it profitable to plant shibi in close rows at right angles to the coastline, as shown in fig. I\).

OYSTER-CULTURAL METHODS OF KUSATSU.

The oyster-grounds of Kusatsu are the best of those situated west of Hiroshima,but all of these, and of this entire region, are essentially the same, as far as cultural

15

FIG. l4.-0yster rake, used for "cultivating" the oysters, 1. e., stirring them about roughly as theylie on the living grounds, so as to break olf the delicate shell margin. ,

FIG. lIl.-Oyster rake, niltOlI-zurnt, used to gathel' oysters fallen from theshibi, or to select oysters to be detaohed.FIG. l6.-0Yster rake, yat8ugo, used to colleot mar-ketable oysters from the living ground.

methods are concerned. They extend along the western coast 7 or more miles fromHiroshima, at points indicated on the map (fig. 1). In these localities oysters arecultivated at greater depths than in other waters of Aki, for it has here been foundthat under the deeper conditions the shellfish continue to increase in size after the

Three kinds of oyster rakes, Hiroshima area

Intensive cultivation of the Nihojima Estuary, ca. 1904

An oyster from pristine waters. Ain’t nothing on the Pacific side of Vancouver Island except orcas, sea lions, shellfish farmers, and the occasional kayaker. You know these oysters are clean, but clean waters do not necessarily make light-flavored oysters. Art-deco–patterned, lavender-flecked Nootkas, in fact, taste strong, with hints of muskmelon and a flavor of cold, slightly sweet raw milk—animal, but good.

The only native West Coast oyster, once found from Baja to British Columbia, but now harvested commercially only in southern Puget Sound. These tiny celadon lockets hold delightful treasures: miniature oysters redolent of morels and butter and celery salt. Maddening to open, and maddeningly good.

Gorgeous, ruffled shells holding consistently plump, white oysters with black mantles. Penn Coves are multiyear winners of the West Coast’s Most Beautiful Oyster contest. They are a prime example of the “clean finish” style of Pacific oyster—light, salty, fresh, like a cucumber sandwich rolled in parsley.

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This is an excerpt from Rowan Jacobsen’s A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America, Bloomsbury USA (September 4, 2007). Copyright Rowan Jacobsen.

Famous as a Chesapeake oyster river for centuries. Of the twelve oysters on this list, Rapps are the quietest. Extremely mild oysters, exhibiting a simple sweet-butter flavor, they are easily overshadowed by saltier or fruitier oysters, so they don’t fare well in mixed tastings. But on their own, with the most evanescent of wines, they can be delicacy itself—a lesson in the pleasure of minimalism.

Artwork for CHOW by Bryan Christie Design(not actual size)

www.chow.com

The oyster that begs the question: Nature or nurture? By nature, it’s a virginica, the East Coast oyster, celebrated for its superior texture. But it’s nurtured in the gentle algae baths of Totten Inlet, famous for producing full-flavored Pacific and Olympia oysters. The result is an unlikely yet dazzling mutt—fat and round on the tongue, but cleaner and more mineral than a Pacific. If you prefer the Totten Virginica to Pacific oysters raised in Totten Inlet, then chalk one up for the Eastern oyster. If you prefer Totten Virginicas to East Coast virginicas, that confirms Totten Inlet’s revered status.

If Penn Coves exemplify the “light and lettucey” side of Pacific oysters, Skookums show Pacifics at the other extreme. These rich and musky oysters grow fat on the “algae farms”—mudflats—at the head of tiny Little Skookum Inlet, one of Washington’s oldest oyster sites. The brown and green algae that thrive on the mudflats, different from deep-water algae species, give Skookums an aroma of trillium and river moss, more earth than sea.

Nootka Sound West Vancouver Island, British Columbia

OlympiaSouth Puget Sound, Washington

Penn Cove Select Samish Bay and Whidbey Island, Washington

Rappahannock River Topping, Virginia

Skookum Little Skookum Inlet, Washington

Totten Virginica Totten Inlet, Washington

Matthew Morse BookerNorth Carolina State University

mmbooker@ncsu.edu

End; extras follow

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2010 Threatened Shellfish Growing Areas

[[ Threatened Growing Areas

Highways

Counties

Shoreline

Named Cities (Pop >= 40,000)0 5 10 15 20 25

Miles

March 31, 2010File: Threatened_GA_100329-3.pdf

Map Disclosure Statement:The Washington State Department ofHealth (DOH) does not warrant theaccuracy, reliability or timeliness of anyinformation published in this map andassumes no responsibility for errors inthe content of the information provided.Persons or entities that rely on anyinformation obtained from this map doso at their own risk.

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Site # Growing Area Name1 Drayton Harbor2 Samish Bay3 South Skagit Bay4 Mystery Bay5 Port Townsend6 Dyes Inlet7 Burley Lagoon8 Pacific Coast9 Grays Harbor10 Naselle River

2010 Shellfish Areas Listed as Threatened or of Concern

(Based On 2009 Water Quality Data)

Growing Area Sampling Station Number

Contact Threatened Status Concerned Status

Anderson Island 625 Mark Toy (360) 236-3321

Annas Bay 195, 197 Lawrence Sullivan (360) 236-3320

Bay Center 112, 113, 134, 137, 138 Scott Berbells (360) 236-3324

Burley Lagoon 337, 340, 339 (Failing) 331,333,336,338,342,343 Greg Combs (360) 236-3308

Dabob Bay 296 Bill Cleland (306) 236-3306

Drayton Harbor 3, 4, 5 12 Greg Combs (360) 236-3308

Dungeness Bay 115, 106 Greg Combs (360) 236-3308

Dyes Inlet 480,481,482,483,491,655 471, 472 Mark Toy (360) 236-3321

Eld Inlet 160, 161, 171 Lawrence Sullivan (360) 236-3320

Grays Harbor 35, 36 Jule Schultz (360) 236-3349

Henderson Bay 299 Greg Combs (360) 236-3308

Henderson Inlet 190, 191 Lawrence Sullivan (360) 236-3320

Hood Canal 2 87 Scott Berbells (360) 236-3324

Hood Canal 3 136, 137, 140, 143 Lawrence Sullivan (360) 236-3320

Hood Canal 6 218 Lawrence Sullivan (360) 236-3320

Jamestown 102 Bill Cleland (306) 236-3306

Mats Mats Bay 10 Mark Toy (360) 236-3321

Mystery Bay 27, 28, 29, 30 Mark Toy (360) 236-3321

Naselle River 152, 161, 162, 187 153, 156, 157, 158, 160 Scott Berbells (360) 236-3324

Nisqually Reach 709 Lawrence Sullivan (360) 236-3320

North Bay 1, 575, 7 Scott Berbells (360) 236-3324

Oro Bay 555 Bill Cleland (306) 236-3306

Pacific Coast 11, 196, 197 6, 195 Scott Berbells (360) 236-3324

Pickering Passage 52, 57 Lawrence Sullivan (360) 236-3320

Port Blakely 418 Scott Berbells (360) 236-3324

Port Townsend 33 Mark Toy (360) 236-3321

Portage Bay 272 Greg Combs (360) 236-3308

Reach Island 17 Bill Cleland (306) 236-3306

Rocky Bay 22 Bill Cleland (306) 236-3306

Samish Bay All Stations Greg Combs (360) 236-3308

South Skagit Bay 192 183, 184, 185, 186 Scott Berbells (360) 236-3324

Vaughn Bay 613 Bill Cleland (306) 236-3306 Threatened or Concerned status is generally based on marine water quality but may also be based on the presence of potential pollution sources that, if not managed, may cause a downgrade in classification. Threatened status is assigned in SRS growing areas when a ���� �������������������th percentile is between 30 and 43 fc/100mL. In APC growing areas threatened status is assigned if the percentage of samples that exceed 43 fc/100ml is between 6.6% and 10.0%. Concerned status is assigned where a water ������������������th percentile is greater than 20, but less than 30.