ALL ABOUT OYSTERS
Tips & Tricks from the Experts at Hama Hama
We’ve teamed up with our friends at Hama Hama Oyster Company to bring you the best tips on finding, harvesting, and enjoying oysters.
Hama Hama is a 6th generation family-run shellfish farm on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Their beds are located at the mouth of one of the shortest, coldest, and least developed rivers in Washington—and that purity is reflected in the clean, crisp flavor of the oysters downstream.
Hama Hama’s mission is simple: utilize low impact farming methods to grow world-class oysters, have fun, and leave something good for generations.
Learn where and how to harvest, shuck, and slurp up your very own oysters. Then, head to Hama Hama and taste how the pros do it!
Where to Harvest Oysters
Location, location, location. Oysters are best in areas where fresh flowing water meets salt water, so you’ll want to find a stream or river flowing into the sea. The biophysical properties of an estuary—the nutrients, temperature, salinity, chemistry—will influence what kinds of algae grow there, thereby determining the oyster’s diet. The upstream environment also plays a role. Oysters eat algae and plankton, but they can also consume tiny bits of organic material like bark, grass, or leaves floating down a river. If you walk just a hundred feet or so, the oysters might taste entirely different depending on the ratio of fresh to salt water.
On the West Coast, only Washington boasts public oyster flats. Take a look at the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife website to find an open shellfish beach near you. The Washington Shellfish Trail is another great resource. With spots along Hood Canal, Dabob Bay, San Juan Islands, Olympia and South Sound, and Seattle/Tacoma public beaches—options are plentiful.
*Always check to make sure the beach is open! Beaches may close because of toxicity or sustainability, so you’ll want to steer clear if that’s the case.
How to Forage for Oysters
The main difference between harvesting oysters yourself from a public beach, and buying them from a farm or store, is that on a public beach you need to shuck the oysters in situ, leaving the shells behind. This is because the shells are frequently covered in tiny oyster babies that are too young to eat, and also because having shells on the beach helps recruit new babies during oyster spawning season (larval oysters like to attach to existing oyster shells during their metamorphosis into a shelled animal—read more about it on the Hama Hama blog).
You can access public tideflats any time of year—but if your goal is to harvest oysters to eat raw, we recommend hitting the beach in the spring, winter, or fall. Basically anytime except July and August (June can be an iffy month depending on how warm the year is, use your best judgment!). No matter the season, if the day is warm, avoid harvesting high beach oysters that have been sitting in direct sunlight for a few hours (on our commercial farms, we follow strict time/temperature rules that tell us how quickly we need to get the oysters cold depending on ambient air and water temperature, as well as season).
Bottom line, if the beach is open for harvest: your main safety concern will be naturally-occurring saltwater bacteria, which proliferate in warm water. Fortunately, cooking kills bacteria—so when in doubt, fry them up!
Equipment:
Annual Washington State Shellfish License before you head out
Tide book/graph/or chart—see below
Waterproof boots or shoes—rain boots work fine
Gloves to protect your hands as you shuck
Shucking knife
Towel for cleaning
Jar for the oysters you're bringing home
Ice and cooler to keep your jar cold on the trip home
If you time the tide wrong, you’ll find yourself swimming rather than harvesting. Not necessarily a bad trade, unless you’re really hungry. So be sure to check the local tide charts. Keep in mind that during peak oyster season (the winter) the low tide is usually after sunset, so bring a headlamp! You’ll usually need at least a zero foot tide to access the prime oyster beds, and usually there’s a two hour harvest window on either side of the low tide.
Once you’re out on the beach, look for oysters close to the tideline and try to find your preferred size. This is tricky, because an oyster’s advertised size (its shell) sometimes doesn’t match up to its actual size (the meat inside the shell). In the skinny season (fall or early winter) you’ll probably need to shuck a larger shell than you think you need. In the plump season, spring to early summer, the oysters may completely fill their shells. So, adjust your sizing as you harvest.
Baby oysters “set” and grow on the backs of their elders, hence the law about not removing the shells from the beach. We call these masses of oysters “clusters,” and we shuck and pack into jars in our shucking house (to grow single oysters, the kind you find on raw bars at restaurants, we buy oyster seed from hatcheries and rear it in nurseries before planting on the beach). Finding the size oyster you want in a cluster of wild oysters is a bit of a treasure hunt—you’ll need to pick the cluster up and look over it carefully. If you’re going to cook the oysters, choose larger ones (3” or more in shell length). If you’re hoping to eat them raw, err on the smaller side (2.5” - 3” shell length).
Collect the oysters in a jar, or eat the oysters as you harvest. Keep the oyster population healthy and thriving by honoring the limits that are posted at each beach. It can be tricky to grill an oyster without a shell. You can use a cast iron muffin pan, use a kebab (wrap the oyster in bacon for the classic oyster dish “angels on horseback”) or pan fry them. Usually, folks poach oysters before skewering or pan frying.
How to Shuck Oysters
Get the oyster shucking lowdown from Hama Hama’s Vice President of Shellfish, Lissa James Monberg.
Step 1: Gather Your Gear
A GOOD OYSTER KNIFE
Yes, it’s possible to shuck with a screwdriver, but doing so increases the likelihood that you'll injure yourself or mutilate the oyster. So, just buy a knife!
A TOWEL
A towel serves several purposes: it protects your hands from the knife in case the knife slips, it gives you something clean to use to wipe the blade free of mud or shell, and it soaks up the liquid released by the oyster.
HEAVY DUTY GLOVES
It’s important to wear a glove on the hand holding the oyster, because even if the knife doesn't get you, the shell might. Wearing a glove on the hand holding the knife is up to you. Beware that you don't end up like us, though, with boxes and boxes of left handed gloves, and not a righty to be found.
Step 2: Meet the Oyster
FROM THE TOP
Oysters have a pointy hinge end and a cupped rounded edge. The hinge, or the umbo, is the only place where the two shells come together.
AND FROM THE SIDE
Oysters have a cupped rounded side and a top flat side.
This matters ... because if you're holding the oyster with the hinge towards you and the cupped side down, the adductor muscle is on the right side of the oyster. The adductor runs through the oyster, connecting the top shell to the bottom shell.
Step 3: Action!
GET IN POSITION
Wrap the oyster in a towel and place it on a non-slip surface, with the cupped-side down and the hinge towards you.
USE THE KNIFE
Applying gentle pressure, insert the knife into the hinge until it's stuck, about a quarter inch. You don't need to press too hard. Once you have leverage, you can pop the hinge open by twisting the knife as if it's a key in a car lock.
CUT IT FREE
Clean the knife of any gunk or shell, and slide it inside the oyster along the inside of the top shell, scraping the adductor muscle off the top. Remove the top shell, kick out any shell particles you see, and then sever the bottom portion of the adductor muscle.
Shucking Tips
BE SAFE
Do not shuck the oyster while it’s in your hand. Do not press too hard, this is about finesse not strength. As you shuck, be aware of where the knife is going to go if it slips (ideally, into the towel).
THINK OF IT THIS WAY
Shucking consists of two parts: first you get the knife in the oyster, and then you cut the oyster free from its shell.
FLIP IT
To be sure that you've fully released the oyster you can flip it over, a move that for some reason is known as the Philly Flip. Note: shucking snobs frown on the Philly Flip. Proceed accordingly.
BE WISE
Just like in life, if you find yourself working hard at something and not making any progress, take a step back and re-examine your method. You may need to change the angle of the oyster knife or adjust the placement. Either way, don’t just press harder, because that’s when you’re more likely to injure yourself.
SUCCESS
A well shucked oyster is one that’s free of shell and undamaged. It’s possible to shuck the oyster cleanly, we promise (and if you do cut the oyster a little bit, just flip it over, nobody will notice).
Happy shucking!
Ways to Enjoy Oysters
Add a mignonette sauce of minced shallots, cracked pepper, and vinegar to your raw oyster. Simple and tasty!
Oysters pair wonderfully with light, minerally white wine… we like our Oyster White wine (made by our friends at Cooper Mountain Vineyards), or you can pick up a sauvignon blanc or a muscadet. Dry, sparkling wine is delicious and fun. If you’re more of a beer drinker go for crisp beer, like a pilsner or a saison. Or do like the Irish do, and opt for a Guinness! Stouts have a rich, pillowy mouthfeel that pairs nicely with the sharp brine of an oyster.
If you prefer to glam up your oysters, check out Hama Hama’s recipe blog for delicious and creative ways to enjoy oysters and other shellfish.
Photos courtesy of Hama Hama.