|
|
|
Choptank Sweets
Oy! Oysters ready to rock: Big, meaty, fat and happy Choptank
Sweets.
Visit Choptank Oyster Co: QT video Kevin McClarren loves his oysters. All five million of them. That’s 5,000,000 carefully
hatched, nurtured, washed, fed, tumbled, flipped, culled and grown oysters worthy of the name “Choptank Sweets.”
Choptank Sweets are grown on a 4-acre “farm” off the Choptank outside of Cambridge, MD. Resting happily in 4,000 mesh nets that float on the water, the oysters live a contented life. Kevin, the general manager of the Choptank Oyster Company, and his team coddle the oysters for about three years, until they’re ready for the plate.
And boy, are they ready for the plate. Choptank Sweets are sort of the kobe beef of oysters. “Fat
and happy,” says Kevin. They’re large, meaty, good, local and super-fresh. What’s the difference? Well, for one thing, their habitat. Once the primary industry of
the Bay, wild oysters have been harvested virtually into oblivion. The big oyster reefs, which served as a safe harbor for
new oysters, have disappeared. Silt from farms clouds the water and prevents sun from getting to algae the oysters need. And
oysters living in the mud at the bottom struggle for food and to reproduce.
Choptank Sweets, on the other hand, float near the top of the water. It puts them in a perfect position
for the food they need; where the sun can reach the algae, and the algae can reach the oysters. Every three or four weeks
during the warm weather, the floats are flipped, and whatever “stuff” has grown on the float bakes away in the
sun. The oysters also seem to be healthier; Kevin says he has less than a 1% mortality rate.
“A win-win-win situation.” Kevin’s also justifiably proud of the positive impact his oysters have on the environment. He ticks off the benefits on his hand. “One: each one of my oysters filters 30 gallons of water a day. That’s 150 million gallons of Bay water every day that they ‘clean.’ Two: This is sustainable; we’re hatching oysters, we’re not depleting the species any further. Three: Every farmed oyster you eat is another wild one you can leave to grow. Four: We supply restoration efforts around the Bay.” (The oysters that grow together in clumps aren’t restaurant quality; they’re the ones used for restoration.) “It’s a win-win-win…win-win-win.”
Choptank Sweets are aptly named; they have about half the salinity of a seaside oyster. But they offer
many advantages over their wild cousins, including a meat that plump and excellent for cooking, as in Oysters Rockefeller
or for Restaurant Local's Fried Oysters with Aioli. For those foolish enough to prefer “wild”
oysters versus farmed, Kevin retorts, “Look, we raise chickens on farms, don’t we? We don’t go out and catch
wild chickens every day.” How
they’re grown. It’s not all that simple
— at least at the beginning. Kevin describes in language as sterile as a high-school sex-ed class how he “encourages”
his male and female brood stock to become sexually active (until you prod him into the raunchier details). How the sperm and
egg hook up. How their algaeist feeds the offspring in the nursery. How they’re grown into “set” oysters
with shell and transferred to upweller in the shed. Then eased into the great outdoors.
Then, prepped to be prepped. Oysters
“pastured” this way grow quickly, thanks to their happy habitat. It takes about two to three years for them
to grow over the legal 3-inch limit for harvesting. Every few months, the oysters are also taken out of their floats,
and tumbled and washed for aesthetics and to create a stronger shell. Most Choptank Sweets are grown to be served on the half-shell
in restaurants, so a good-looking shell is important.
Where can you find them? Try here. FOODIE UPDATE: I stink. Here's where to
get your hands on fabulous Choptank Sweets. Sorry Kevin!!!! Click here! Most restaurants in the area can receive an order in about 24 hours. Some of the restaurants that offer them include Tilghman Island Inn, Restaurant Local in Easton, Wild Orchid in Annapolis and Robert Morris Inn in Oxford. Other places to get some of your own? Not a problem. Some Choptank Sweets make their way to Martin’s at the wholesale seafood outlet in Jessup, MD. You can also come on up to the oyster farm. Choptank Sweets are packaged in boxes of 100. Prices fluctuate a little, so call ahead for availability and today’s rates. David McCallum, Executive
Chef of the Tilghman Island Inn, has been choosing Choptank Sweets for his menu for a while now. He graciously contributed this recipe:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
