Monster Mystics and Jupiter Points
Dec 10, 2009
The Mystic oysters coming out of the Noank River right now, longtime favorites of mine, are amazingly robust. In just two years, these babies have reached maximum-half-shell size. You have to stay focused to eat them raw. Their flavor is equally massive: briny, mineral, and more metallic than in the past. Serious, graduate-level oysters. How’d they get that way? “Those came off a 1st-year bed I planted last fall,” says grower Steve Plant. “Like all my beds, it’s a point or bar, with hard bottom, so the shape tends to create upwelling (faster current flow). Plus it’s 200 yards farther upriver than my other beds, so it tends to warm up faster. It’s also at a choke point in the estuary so the tidal flow screams through there.”
If the Mystics are too intimidating, look for Jupiter Points, raised right around the bend from Noank. Also large and wonderfully firm, with deeper cups, but with a slightly lighter flavor. Either way, you can’t go wrong if you spot one of these in a rawbar.
« PREVIOUS: FDA Loses Its Last Marble
» NEXT: Kumos in Japan?
Recent Posts
