The Oyster Guide

Little Skookum Inlet marks the farthest capillary of Puget Sound. Fed by Lynch Creek, which is stuffed with salmon each fall, it counts the surrounding land as a much stronger influence than the sea. That is one key to understanding Little Skookum oysters; the other is the inlet’s shape. Little Skookum’s basin is a wide, shallow U. It empties completely into Totten Inlet at low tide and is one continuous shellfish bed from shore to shore. Its exposed upstream mudflats, warmed and moist, are a finer algae incubator than any hatchery. When the tide returns, a carpet of green and brown is lifted off the mudflats and pureed in the currents, creating a thick, funky soup that grows fat, buttery clams and oysters. As you might expect from an inlet so shallow and far from the sea, Little Skookum oysters are not salty.

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