We had our first inspection as a New York shellfish shipper and processor last week, in February, 2021. And we passed with flying colors, courtesy of Skipper T. There’s always room to improve, though, and the inspector did find one thing for us to do better. We knew the NY Department of Environmental Conservation inspector was headed our way a few days before he arrived. We were kind of surprised, because our operation underwent a detailed examination a couple months ago, in December, 2020, when we were going for our shellfish processing permit. Now that we have it, we also know this: Every Cl ..read more

This quick recipe for oyster stew launched season four of our Happy Oyster Co. LIVE YouTube Show on New Year’s Day. Aromatic, flavorful and delicious in its simplicity, but watch out you don’t overcook the veggies or boil the broth. We made enough on the show to serve four or three hungry diners. Ingredients Chopped shallots, celery, onion, garlic. You decide how many parts of each. Make sure you peel the strings off your celery. 1/2 stick of butter, or thereabouts. 15 or so fresh, raw oysters, shucked. (check out the video for my side-shuck technique) Oyster liquor (juices from the shucked oy ..read more

Mastering the art of shucking an oyster allows you to enjoy this delicious shellfish and become the life of the party, shucking, sharing, slurping with anyone, anywhere and anyhow you can get your hands and lips on them!!! SAFETY TAKES NO HOLIDAY & WE WANT YOU SAFE Please put on a non-penetrable glove or place your oyster in your oyster shucking block; at LEAST wrap a towel, multi-layering around your oyster-holding hand to help protect it from being poked with the knife. Okay, with that said, place the oyster flat side up with the hinge tucked in where your thumb meets your index finger ..read more

Oyster Liquor Transforms This Humble Recipe For Thanksgiving Dressing Savory Oyster Dressing Cooked slowly on the the stove and moistened only with water and oyster liquor, this stuffing gets its subtle umami and briny flavors from the native Eastern oyster. Why not add oysters to your Thanksgiving stuffing? We use a simple recipe familiar to generations of American families. Our local version offers the subtle, briny flavor of oysters raised in Long Island bay waters. Recipe makes enough stuffing for up to a 15-pound turkey, with leftovers. Ingredients are estimates - Adjust to your preferen ..read more

Breaded & Buttery On The Half Shell Choose moderately salty oysters like our SMILES for briny flavor. Shell-fried oysters in a pan is one of Bart’s favorite basic recipes. Easy to make and delicious with a cold beer. Ingredients A dozen oysters in the shell Half-and-half mixture of bread crumbs and flour Oil and Butter Opening Fresh Oysters Use an oyster knife or shucking tool to open your oysters. Give each one the sniff test to ensure their freshness. Set the meat aside, reserving the liquor (juices) and the shells with the deeper sided cups. Dredge the oysters Coat each oyster in the ..read more

Local oysters at work in the Peconic Estuary Local oyster farms are part of the ongoing movement to protect the bay waters of Peconic Estuary. A fragile marine habitat and irreplaceable natural resource on eastern Long Island, NY, Peconic Estuary is nationally recognized for its economic and environmental importance. East Enders depend upon the Peconic Estuary Peconic Estuary is vital to the distinctive wildlife that have adapted to its singular mix of fresh and salt water. Birds, fish, marine animals and organisms are significantly affected by the quality of bay waters. On a human scale, the ..read more

The Aromas That Define Freshness In Eastern Oysters Brininess – that unique smell of the sea – is associated with the true (edible) oyster. It’s particularly noteworthy in Crassostrea virginica, the scientific name for the Eastern Oyster, which is what we raise here on Long Island, NY. An Eastern Oyster Should Be Briny On The Nose Brininess is a measure of freshness, itself the most important quality for oysters in the raw, half-shell market. A quick sniff test is a way to decide if a raw oyster is ready to be enjoyed. What you’ll be inhaling are molecules of odors that scientists have identif ..read more

Underwater flavor challenge pits a bay box against a standard oyster cage We have a plastic cage. We have a wood cage. And we’re wondering if there’s going to be a taste difference. I think possibly there could be. Maybe not. I don’t know. If I float this cage and that cage side by side, with the same exact oysters, hatched the same time, and we keep all the constraints together, do you think the oysters would taste different? We’re going to find out in 2021. This wooden bay box, built by Michael Schermyer here in Westhampton Beach, is facing off against the plastic cage (below) in a see-what ..read more

Can This Promising Experiment Solve A Pesky Problem? Three key changes in our latch clip design are being tested this summer of ‘21 on a small number of cages. If the new design does the job better, as I think it will, we’ll put it into production on new cages. Might even change over some of the older cages as they’re hauled for maintenance. Of course, how I think something will work and how it turns out to work are two different things. We’ll know more as the process unfolds. I’ve been thinking about a solution to our latch issue for some time. Our standard cage is a three-tray stack and the ..read more

Cage Handling On Deck, Bridles, Daisy Chains Proper cage handling skills are vital for an oyster farm like ours, where the goal is a premium quality oyster grown in its natural underwater habitat while sheltered in the safety of cages. We presently run a three-tier cage system, using stackable trays that we build and maintain ourselves, as shown in Part I. Cages in service are ghost-lined together underwater, so cage wrangling, on land and the water, is a big part of our work. A crew member can learn cage management, and knot tying, with practice and sincere effort, which leads to attitude. Wh ..read more