The oyster is a simple yet amazing animal. Note how both the method and place of cultivation have a significant outcome on the taste of this bivalve. Hog Island Oyster Company, on the northern end of Tomales Bay, is renown for its oysters from this slender inlet.Note: if you don't make it to the farm on Tomales Bay, visit the Hog Island Oyster Co. oyster bar in the San Francisco Ferry Building for a fine Kumamoto.
link to: Hog Island Oyster Co.
link to: Video--John Finger of Hog Island explains how to shuck an oyster
--Brent W.
"The seasonal flaovor of Friedman's oysters is not driven so much by water temperature as by the spring and fall algae blooms" (Jacobsen. After learning about terroir I think that the flavor profile of oysters is an excellent example of substantiated terroir. While the wine industry has its varying opinions about terroir in Northern California. The oysters of California with out a doubt display the local floavor of the environment.
ReplyDelete-D. Brown
"It's all about geography"
ReplyDelete- Rowan Jacobsen pg. 239
Geography explains everything about the oyster industry. The most important geographical features that affect this industry include all aspects of the water, what body, temperature, currents, food and activity. There is also the external temperature of the atmosphere, water supply, bays or open ocean, and surrounding land features like mountains and flat lands. All of this helps the farmer in making the decision on how to farm the oysters and what methods to use. The farmer has to decide how far out and down, what type of cage or net to hold the oysters in and when to harvest them for consumption. I believe in terroir and in the wine industry those farmers depend on it to give the grapes their own unique attributes to make certain styles of wine. The oyster farmers rely on terroir to do the same with their products. Although the waters change all the time the most important characteristics that make up how each oyster comes about usually stay the same unless there is a freak natural disaster that disrupts everything. After reading this article I cant wait to go to the markets and eat my heart out!
-Jessica M.
“The resulting oysters are tender and delicate, quite briny, as you’d expect from an area that sees virtually no rain, and sweet with a touch of bitter herb”(Jacobsen 160)
ReplyDeleteGeography is one of the most important factors that affect the oyster industry, because depending on the geographical location the: weather, temperature, currents, and bodies of water will vary. I never imagined how many factors come into play when speaking about oysters, the farmers have to carefully consider every detail, like when the oyster are ready to be harvested for consumption and what type of net will be appropriate to collect them all without damaging the shells.
I selected the quote above because tit gives an example of how terroir impacts the oyster industry. Factors like the amount of rainfall, or the temperature of the water grants different flavors and aromas to the oysters. I look forward to visiting the oyster bar in San Francisco and experience a taste of their terroir.
Philip R.
“Both Oregon and California owe their incredibly productive coastal waters prevailing ocean and wind currents”
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the article I found it interesting finding out how many factors that go ingot making a “good” oyster and a “bad” oyster. Like the water that the oysters are grown in cannot have too much of one chemical in the water or the temperature of the water cannot be too hot or cold if so the oysters might not grow up properly. What the oyster eats, the current in the water. I guess what reading this article made me realize that was no matter if you are growing grapes for wine, Herbs for cooking or fish for eating, there is always many factors that go into making sure that you get a healthy and well cared for product. Along with good tasting!
Maria M.
“Oregon oysters still get around. Like it’s wine industry, Oregon’s Oyster business is centered on boutique operations, making up in interest what they lack in quantity. Often they are strong flavored, more like earthy Puget Sound oysters than the crisp brine of California or the light lettuce of Willapa Bay and Hood Canal”
ReplyDelete(Rowan Jacobsen, California and Oregon, pg. 240)
This quote represents the reading because this guy is an oyster freak…as well as a geography freak. The amount of over exuberance he puts into discussing one thing (oysters) is a little weird. He has analyzed the specific flavors of oysters from specific regions and continues to explain why they have these flavor profiles. In a way that’s pretty cool but still I believe there are better things to be writing about. This quote represents the author’s enthusiasm as well as his cultural awareness for the different states and their production of oysters.
Although I honestly don’t care much for oysters (I like them but I’m not going to actively seek them), I did find this reading pretty cool where he discusses the history of oysters in California, why they are going away due to pollution, and how Tomales Bay is slowly destroying itself and with it its oyster production. Also the segments on the different kids of oysters were an interesting read further showing the authors fanaticism. I agree with the author in that California’s great amount of pollution certainly did destroy San Francisco’s Bay’s shell fish production…although its kind of hard to disagree with historical facts. But the implication of this is pretty terrible. San Francisco bay was producing a large amount of oysters with an incredible flavor (or so says the reading) and the fact that they were destroyed due to pollution truly is a culinary tragedy. On the whole I actually really appreciate this piece mostly for it’s culinary usefulness. This is the kind of article I would tear out of a book and save in a journal for later on in a culinary career if I was looking to buy oysters due to the description of flavor profiles of different oysters from different regions….that’s probably why I did tear it out of my book.
Jameson F
The concept of terroir can seemingly be applied to all things grown. In this instance, oysters can take on flavors that can be associated with different growing areas. The terms sweet, melony, and metallic describe what the oysters can taste like which is directly attributed to the farming method and water. Whether they are grown on the bottom, line grown, or on nets along with distance in the water give each type of oyster different characteristics. It is truly fascinating that oysters, like grapes, can exhibit terroir.
ReplyDeleteDenny M.
"For a big state, California's oyster industry is confined to a small area.
ReplyDelete-Jacobsen, Rowan. "California and Oregon." A Geography of Oysters. New York: Bloomsbury, 2007. pg 239.
This quote represents the reading it shows how California's oyster industry is only alive in one small area. But that industry is doing very well and producing very good oysters. Since California is not blessed with lot of bay, it makes it very hard to produce a variety of oysters. But the few bays that are producing oysters produce some great quality oysters.
I thought this was a great article and i will definitely refer to it again at another time. It is hard for me to agree or disagree with article because I haven't had the chance to experience California oysters, even though i have visited California before. But the article makes a lot of good points about California's oysters and has made me a believer in them. I found it interesting that California's oyster production has been around for a short period of time. Since there aren't a lot of places producing oysters it seems it has taken California sometime to build up that industry. Also how at one point San Francisco Bay held billions of oysters in the 1850's and zero in the 1860's.
-Arthur P.
"Deep-cupped, sweet, and melony, this is a pacific masquerading as a kumamoto. The thin shell and mild flavor clearly mark this product of suspension culture." (Page, 164). The way in which the author talks about oysters is much the same way a wine enthusiast would talk about his favorite bottle of wine. This is a direct reflection that terrior is a large part of much of the food items we consume. Using words to describe the oysters like "sweet and melony" seemed farfetched to me, but im sure these flavor tones can all be explained with the terrior of the land.
ReplyDelete-Kyle B.
"Like it's wine industry, Oregon's oyster business is centered on boutique operations, making up in interest what they lack in quantity," (Jacobsen 240).
ReplyDeleteI didn't know a whole lot about how oysters were grown and harvested, and after reading this article they're very similar in many aspects to wine. Just as the grapes of a certain area are affected by environment, the terroir and human interaction, so too are oysters; in taste and also when being grown. From the reading, it seems that, just like grapes, certain oysters grow better in some than others and some are more desirable than others.
-Mike D.
"Floating is the operative verb [in Californian oyster production]- bottom culture is nonexistent in California. The San Francisco/Oakland city-state gobbles up most almost everthing the Point Reyes area can grow. California oysters are getting rarer outside the state"
ReplyDelete(Rowan Jacobsen, A Geography of Oysters, reader pg. 240, article pg. 158)
Much of California's oyster production and farming is done using the suspended culture method. This method is done by placing oyters on trays suspending from lines, this makes it easier to harvest the oyters and keeps them from becoming damaged. Bottom culture oyster farming and production in California has become nonexistent in California because of the increased danger of oysters being damaged from the fragile platonic ecosystems that surrounds. The San Francisco Bay area is a major consumer of Point Reyes oyters. The area consumes so much of Point Reyes oyters that none are exported elsewhere to meet the demand. Because of high demand and consumption within state lines Californian oyters as a whole are becoming rarer for other states to sample what a Californian oysters have to offer.
I found the reading interesting. I never knew a lot about oyster farming until this article. California's oyters are very diverse with their different flavors, textures, and appearances. I agree with the authors finding because the information seems to be based of facts. The author seems to be very knowlegable of the characteristics oysters obtain from the water they are farmed and harvested from. I found it thought provoking and kind of challenging to believe that California's export of oysters are being greatly decreased mainly by the consumption of the state alone.
-Brandon G.
"San Francisco Bay held billions of Olympia oysters in the 1850's, zero in the 1860's (Jacobsen 157)."
ReplyDeleteBeing so supportive of a hippy culture, I'm surprised that nothing has been done about the bay being so polluted. The Thames River was the most polluted river in the world less then ten years ago, and now thanks to a huge revitalization and cleaning budget, it has become one of the cleaner ones. San Francisco Bay is a huge, beautiful bay that sits there as an untapped resource. With a bit of cleaning it could harvest billions of oysters again. This would help the economy a lot as well as provide many jobs for the population.
Jeff S
"Welcome to oyster nirvana" (page 243)
ReplyDeleteThe quote is certainly a bold statement and maybe it is a fact of an opinion i don't know oysters so i cant make a judgement. But for a writer and a oyster connoisseur to make that type of statement you know he has to have a strong reasoning to do so. The overall article is very interesting the way that different areas and different water temps and salt contents can all change the oyster from brininess, to the size, and taste is amazing. To have such a wide variety of oysters all come from a relatively close area and for all of them to have significant differences from location to growing methods. It would be very interesting to be able to try all the different oysters and experience the terroir of the ocean.
Zach K.
"The oyster, the only one I know of from this stretch of coast, has a bit of a theme park look to it: glassy shells with jagged fans of white and purple stripes reminiscent of a South Beach hotel light fixture. It is grown offshore in suspended culture-the only way to grow oysters in these bayless parts-and has the weak adductor muscle and reduced shelf life one expects as a result. The flavor is quite salty for a Pacific, metallic and alkalinr at the end-an unusual taste imparted by Southern California's waters." (Rowan Jacobsen, 159)
ReplyDeleteThis quote is decribing how that the oysters from California may have a pretty look on the outside, but flavor-wise they are not what is excepted from oysters. It shows that the contents of the water have a major effect on the taste of the oyster. It is almost like like growing grapes in different areas, you will get a different taste depending on where it is grown and what it has contact with.
-kelsey B