Eat and Oyster Save the Bay

It’s still too early to tell wheth-

er Travis Croxton’s children—

Riley, left, and Dylan (and

Alden, not pictured)—will

become oystermen like their

father, his cousin Ryan, and

their great-great-grandfather.

as seen in the November~December 2010 issue of flavormags.com

SAVING THE BAY ONE PERFECT

OYSTER AT A TIME

SAVING THE BAY ONE PERFECT

OYSTER AT A TIME

mags.com 41NOV / DEC 2010

The more oysters we eat, the better chance they’ll thrive in the bay.

It’s time to raise a farmed oyster half shell for a slurping salute.

The number of oyster aquaculture farms in Virginia is growing with har-vests year-round; and to the north, Maryland is taking steps to catch

up with the Old Dominion’s success in stimulating economic growth and putting a regional delicacy back on the dinner table.

The oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay has been on the decline for so long and the forecast has been so bleak. But here’s the

good news: major pockets of oyster prosper-ity are on the rise. JUST BELOW THE SURFACENot far from the mouth of the Rappahan-nock River in Topping, Virginia, just over an hour east of Richmond, cousins Ryan and Travis Croxton can watch once-endan-gered American bald eagles soar overhead as they tend their successful oyster farms, spread over 300 leased acres of shallow river bottom. For the Croxtons, the big birds in

the sky are a reminder that if the eagle can make a comeback, the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern oyster can, too. They believe mod-ern aquaculture techniques are the answer. “Aquaculture takes over when man destroys what’s native and you’re forced to change,” says Travis.

With a reverent nod to their great-grand-father, an oysterman, the Croxtons started raising oysters from the larval stage as a hobby in 2003. That initial harvest of 300 oysters per week has grown to more than

WALTER NICHOLLS Photos by Molly McDonald Peterson


mags.com NOV / DEC 201042

30,000. Starting at the top, the cousins sold their first 100 bivalves to New York chef Eric Ripert, co-owner and executive chef of Le Bernardin, arguably the finest seafood restaurant in the country. With that account, their company, Rappahan-nock River Oysters, was off and running. Rather than joining the mass shucked-oyster industry, they brand their oysters to their point of origin and sell directly to restaurants. At least 200 restaurants are already clients.

A WIN-WIN PROPOSITIONOut for a check on their stocks, Travis pulls their 24-foot Carolina Skiff up to a white PVC pipe marking one farm. With the help of a boat hook, he fishes out a sub-merged guide line and with a crane hoists a metal cage four feet long and three feet wide, with as many as 1,500 market-sized, 18-month-old oysters destined for raw bars across the country. Feet on the underside of the cage keep the mollusks off the river bottom and out of the mud, where they could possibly suffocate or pick up an undesirable flavor. “Listen to them spit, clamping down. They are actively feeding,” he says. “They say each oyster filters and cleans 50 gallons of water per day.” The return of a healthy population of oysters to the bay is believed to be one key to the bay’s survival.

Next spring, the Croxtons are opening an oyster and wine bar at their rustic ma-rina with hopes of turning little Topping into the Napa Valley of oysters—a place where oyster lovers can journey to pair the meroir, or naturally occurring flavor profiles of their farmed bivalves, with the terroir of regional vintages. A half dozen oyster va-rieties will be offered so folks can compare how the water’s mineral content and salin-ity levels affect the mollusk’s taste: from mild and buttery Rappahannock River Oysters to briny, Chincoteague Olde Salts. In the not-so-distant past, such a venture would seem curious, at best.

DECLINE & RECOVERYOver the past 100 years, oyster harvesting in the Chesapeake Bay has had a tragic his-tory. Although oysters were once perceived by many as an inexhaustible resource (in the language of the Algonquin Indians, “Chesapeake” means “great shellfish bay”), overharvesting, pollution, and disease have

reduced wild stocks to just 1 percent of his-toric populations.

At the peak of the shellfish harvest in the 1880s, when oyster restaurants lined the streets of downtown Washington, about 17 million bushels of oysters were dredged from the bay bottom each year by 50,000 oystermen. Today, there are only a handful of shucking houses around the Chesapeake Bay, which, with the Gulf of Mexico, has the distinction of being the last two places on earth where wild oysters are commercially harvested.

In Virginia, oyster aquaculture is boom-ing. The number of oysters produced has multiplied more than 10 times over three years—from 840,000 in 2005 to 9.8 mil-lion in 2008—according to a recent report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. One-third of Virginia’s oyster grounds are in private leases to encourage farming, and in 2008 the state established “aquaculture enhancement zones” on the Eastern Shore, imposing regulations to reduce pollution from entering waters. Last year Virginia oyster farms contributed $7 million to the state’s economy.

“It’s not going to happen overnight. But

Although oysters were once perceived

by many as an inexhaustible

resource, overharvesting,

pollution, and disease have reduced wild

stocks to just 1 percent of historic

populations.



SaturdayThe Cashmere Jungle Lords (surfabilly rock at its best)

Sunday Jolie Fille (fun cajun punk)

Live music and plenty of oysters from our friends at Rappahannock River Oyster Co.!

at Cardinal Point

7th Annual November 13-14, 201012 pm – 5pm (each day)

Cover Charge:(Tickets go on sale in October)

$8 Per Person in Advance

$10 Per Person at the Door

$5 For Case Club Members

(Cover charge includes a wine glass and free wine tasting; it does NOT include wine to fill your glass or oysters)Advance tickets may be purchased in the tasting room and on our shop page beginning in October.

Cardinal Point Vineyard & Winery | 9423 Batesville Road | Afton, VA 22920 | 540-456-8400 | cardinalpointwinery.com

place your orders throughwww.fleurirchocolates.com

or call 804.577.3819



Choose 12 oyster shells that are somewhat bowl-shaped to help retain sauce on the grill. Keep in mind that this could mess your barbecue pit up pretty badly. For easier clean up, line the bottom of the pit or grill with foil and then build your coals on top. Have a spray bottle with water on hand in case of flare-ups.

Find recipes for Wood-Grilled Rappahannock Oysters with Tasso Ham & Basil Butter by chef Rick Cook of BlackSalt (Washington, DC) and Oyster & Sausage Dressing by chef-owner Jason Alley of Comfort (Richmond, VA) at flavormags.com.

Shuck oysters and drain, reserving liquid and shells (see note).

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic, white wine, hot sauce, and lemon juice. Let simmer 30 minutes.

Prepare charcoal barbecue grill. When coals are red but not flaming, place shells on grill.

Place one oyster in each shell. Using a 1-ounce (2-tablespoon) ladle, pour sauce mixture over each oyster, filling the shell. If sauce spills out onto coals, douse flare-ups with spray bottle (see note).

Just as the edges of the oyster begin to curl, sprinkle breadcrumbs on oysters to absorb the sauce. Let breadcrumbs brown slightly. When the edges of the oysters are fully curled, top breadcrumbs with Parmesan cheese. Remove from grill and serve.

D.G.’S CHARBROILED OYSTERS Submitted by chef David Guas of Bayou Bakery, Arlington, VA

12 Ole Salts oysters from Rappahannock River Oysters

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, finely minced

¼ cup white wine

1 teaspoon hot sauce (we use Crystal’s)

Juice from half a lemon

Plain breadcrumbs

Grated Parmesan cheese

ENHANCED


Award Winning

Handcrafted in Virginia.


in maybe eight to ten years, aquaculture is going to get us back our share of the oyster business we’ve lost,” says Tommy Leggett, the foundation’s Virginia oyster restoration and fisheries scientist. “Big companies like Bevans [Oyster Company of Kinsale] and Cowart [Seafood Corporation in Lottsburg] are investing millions in research and equipment. At the same time, with education, we can now manage around disease and protect the resource.”

Maryland is playing catch-up. Last year, with aquaculture in mind, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation extending the leasing of Chesapeake Bay bot-tom grounds for the first time in 100 years. Presently in the state, only 6 percent of oyster grounds are in private leases. Afraid of the change from hunter-gatherer to farmer, many Maryland oystermen continue to fight the state’s efforts to convert the wild oyster fishery to aquaculture. Still, officials hope to grow the number of farms from the nine in operation today to 150 in 10 years.

QUITE A HAULPlenty of buyers are ready to shuck.

Noted chef David Guas has set sights on serving local, farm-raised oysters at his new 70-seat Bayou Bakery in Arlington. “This is a very delicious product—top notch,” says the Louisiana native. “Once chefs learn to handle these oysters, which have a delicate shell, they will find that they are easily opened.”

Bruce Wood, owner of Dragon Creek Aqua Farm in Montross, Virginia, is growing a special oyster that will be available in 2011 exclusively at Hank’s Oyster Bar restaurants in Washington and Alexandria. Raising these oysters on the Nomini Creek of West-moreland County, which has one of the lowest salinity levels within the Chesapeake region, results in a unique, sweet flavor.

Their river-farmed mollusks, eponymously branded as Rappahannock River Oysters, are distinguished by their deep cup. Other varieties include the slightly saltier Stingray Oysters, farmed in Ware Neck, and Olde Salts, the saltiest of the three, farmed in Chincoteague Bay.

Their river-farmed mollusks, eponymously branded as Rappahannock River Oysters, are distinguished by their deep cup. Other varieties include the slightly saltier Stingray Oysters, farmed in Ware Neck, and Olde Salts, the saltiest of the three, farmed in Chincoteague Bay.


THoRNToN RiVeR GRiLLe & Sperryville Corner Store

Gourmet restaurant and market specializing in local produce, meat,

beer and wine.

Thornton River Grillewww.thortonrivergrille.com

540.987.8790Tues-Sat: lunch and dinnerSun: brunch and dinner

Sperryville Corner Store

540.987.8185open daily

3710 Sperryville PikeSperryville, VA


Rappahannock River OystersTopping, VA

(804) 204-1709

www.rroysters.com

Dragon Creek Aqua FarmMontross, VA

(703) 625-0599

Visit flavormags.com for a list of the restaurants and retailers in the Capital foodshed that offer Rappahannock River Oysters.

At BlackSalt, the stellar seafood restaurant in the Washington’s Palisades neighbor-hood, fishmonger M. J. Gimbar appreciates a farmed oyster’s uniformity. “Look at the con-sistency,” says Gimbar holding a misshapen, wild oyster in one hand and a near cookie-cutter farmed version in the other. “All are

similar in size and shape with a perfect little cup, which makes them easier to open.” That ease is appreciated by BlackSalt workers, who shuck as many as 1,200 oysters from Rappah-annock River Oysters each week.

They will be shucking even more in No-vember. In fundraising support of the new Juvenile Diabetes Care Complex at the Chil-dren’s National Medical Center, BlackSalt will host an oyster tasting and discussion with aqua farmers on November 6. On November 14, BlackSalt’s sister restaurant, Addie’s in Rockville, Maryland, will have an oyster roast with the mollusks served four ways as well as a shucking competition.

In addition to ordering oysters online, you can try Rappahannock River Oysters at the 53rd-annual Urbanna Oyster Fes-tival on November 5 and 6, at Cardinal Point Winery’s 7th-annual oyster roast near Charlottesville on November 13 and 14, and at the Old Ebbitt Oyster Riot in D.C. on November 19 and 20.


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Eat and Oyster Save the Bay