| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| vics |
foraging for oysters and musselsWow! I've just found this site and think it is fantastic. Well done whoever set it all up!I would like any tips anyone has for foraging for oysters. There are apparently lots on certain local beaches and it seems to me to be an ethical form of foraging as the portuguese oyster is threatening the indigenous species. I read the article on foraging for mussels and thought it was good, but I was a bit concerned about reports from friends that the mussels can be full of mud and grit ....am I right in thinking that they, like oysters, might be best left in salt water with oatmeal for 24 hours, on a rack, so that they get rid of any gumph that has accumulated ??? Also, how do you actually go about harvesting oysters.....? If anyone has ideas and experience please let me know! |
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| Jamanda |
Hi Vics. Welcome to the site.
There's a couple of articles in here you might find interesting. Not sure about oysters. I think they live in deeper water and you need sub aqua gear to collect them. |
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| Jamanda |
Sorry - you've already read the main mussel article - late at night, not reading properly!
I've never found mussels to be unduly gritty. Sometimes they can be quite salty. I don't think I'd be wanting to collect them from anywhere muddy! |
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| Jonnyboy |
You can purge mussels, make up a brine solution, add some oatmeal or cornmeal and leave for a few hours. | ||||
| vics |
OystersThanks for the replies...oysters round here are in relatively shallow water as there are many rocky reefs which are accessible in low tide: I think oysters thrive in settings where they are covered in water for a period of time but they survive the low tides .... but yes, wading to some degree may be necessary if only at wellie levels!Still puzzled by lack of information on this one. I think you have to chisel the oysters off the chalk reefs as they cling on. Vics |
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| Rob R |
If you google "oyster foraging", this thread comes out top! 
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| Jamanda |
Just looked them up in Richard Mabey's Food for free. He says there are very few wild oysters left around Britain, so you should leave them.
Are the ones you find smooth shelled (natives) or rougher like the ones you buy - if the latter maybe they are escaped cultivated ones and so are OK to take. Edited to add - don't worry too much about getting things in exactly the right forum - most people just use the latest post button any way. And things have a habit of flying off on a tangent round here any way. |
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| cab |
Re: foraging for oysters and musselsVics, the quality of mussels varies with where you get them from; some beaches give you gritty mussels, some don't.The ground oats-in-salty-water thing, its dead easy and I find it helps. Get some clean tap water, make it salty like seawater, put it in a bucket, and put your mussels in - you want a decent depth. Add a handfull of ground oats (or if you haven't got any, flour will do at a push), mix it in, leave it somewhere cool for 24 hours or so. Gets a bit of grit out I guess, but more importantly it means that your mussels last meal was something entirely clean and safe, and of a neutral flavour allowing the taste of the mussels to dominate. Jamanda is right to caution you about oysters. But you've got more options than just oysters and mussels; have you considered winkles, shore crabs, seaweed..? Roughly where are you, whats the seashore like round your way? |
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| crofter |
Re: foraging for oysters and mussels
Or just use seawater. I have never heard of the oatmeal idea, (we just eat mussels directly from the sea) but cockles are depurated overnight in a bucket of water. |
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| cab |
Re: foraging for oysters and mussels
Gosh, but with that lovely clear seawater up where you are, I'd be using seawater too (and I've had good mussels straight out of the sea at Lochalsh). Depends where you are really. I believe its safer to feed them overnight in salty water, but I've never been of the view that it is particularly dangerous not to do so. |