Shellfish

I have always loved shellfish. Both sides of my family originated in New England, so maybe it runs in the blood. Growing up my family regularly visited the northeast coast every summer to see relatives and relax on the beach. At a young age I had already begun digging up razor clams and quahogs on the sand flats of Cape Cod Bay. I loved the clam chowder we could make from quahogs, but the razor clams always tasted rubbery to me. I was to later find out that we were simply not cooking them properly.

I am writing this post on our way back from another summer vacation in Massachusetts, and I thought it should be about my shellfish experience this year. For me, part of the fun of shellfish has always been harvesting them myself. Of course I like a good fried clam platter from Turks in Mattapoisett, but there is something very satisfying about digging up my own clams and mussels. As a general rule, shellfish are much more prevalent in sheltered waters versus open ocean. Let’s look at the different types of shellfish and where they can be harvested.

Mussels

Mussels can be found attached to most anything in the inter-tidal zone, but are most easily harvested from beds in flat sandy/muddy areas with plentiful sea grass growing.

These mussels are at Planting Island in Marion, MA. The mussels will be submerged ½ to 2/3 in the muck and need to be firmly pulled out. They will still have their ‘beard’ attached and may have seaweed stuck to their shells. Don’t clean off the beard until you are ready to cook them. Mussels are best prepared by steaming in a pot with wine or broth and plenty of aromatics. They are delicious and staple seafood of the Portuguese communities on Massachusetts’s south coast.

Clams

Clams in New England come in two main varieties in Massachusetts. Quahogs or littlenecks (cherrystone) are a thick shelled clam that is only differentiated by their size upon harvesting. They are delicious when eaten raw, but are the primary ingredient in traditional New England clam chowder (unlike Manhattan clam chowder, this is a creamy milk-based soup). The other variety is softshell clams (steamers). These clams are primarily consumed like mussels after they are steamed in an aromatic broth and dipped in butter prior to eating. These clams are also the clams used for fried clams or clam strips. Both varieties are found in sandy or muddy flats at low tide. The send up small siphons and can be spotted by the holes in the sand. Sometimes stepping near the hole will cause the clam to squirt water into the air. Quahogs reside very close to the surface, but softshell clams are much deeper dwellers and must be dug for vigorously as they will try to escape by burrowing deeper.

Oysters

In New England, oysters are present, but not as common as in warmer southern waters. They are usually found at low tide having washed off of theirs beds and ending up in the inter-tidal zone. They can be collected laying on the surface, but are not too frequent. Usually enough can be gathered for a small appetizer. A proper shucking knife, hand protection and a good demonstration is recommended before attempting to open oysters.

Scallops

Scallops are not usually encountered as they generally live far out to sea and dwell on the bottom. Occasionally, they will be washed into the inter-tidal zone and can be collected on the beach.

So what other issues surround shellfishing?  Like most types of hunting/fishing, every state regulates the practice to one degree or another.  Do you need a license to shellfish? The answer varies from state to state. Generally, most states allow a limited amount of harvesting for personal use with no license required. Additionally, you should always pay attention to fishery postings in a particular area prior to shellfishing. Conditions such as red tide or pollution can lead to serious sickness or death if warnings are not heeded. Also as a rule any shellfish that cannot hold its shell closed should be discarded out of hand as it could be diseased or dead and not fit for consumption.

So next time you are at the beach, look around and see what you can find. Dinner might be as simple as a few minutes work of gathering. Your efforts will be rewarded by a delicious meal fresh from the sea.

Great Hill Dairy Tour

For years, Alex's grandmother lived in Marion, Massachusetts near Buzzard's Bay.  When visiting, Alex and his family always admired the Great Hill estate around the corner from her house.  About 10 years ago, Great Hill began producing artisan blue cheese. When I knew we were coming to Marion to visit, I contacted the good folks at Great Hill.  Though they don't have regular tours, Tim, the owner,  invited me to see the cheese making operation.

We entered through the lower bay of the barn.  Stacks of empty cheese boxes line the doorway.  Tim was out running errands, so Madeline offered to take us around.

Great Hill Blue cheese begins as raw unhomogenized milk collected from a few local dairies.  Two retired jersey cows live on the Great Hill estate, which used to house more milkers but focuses on cheese making now.

The raw milk is heated and broken with rennet.  Bacterial culture is added.  It is machine stirred in a big tank and simultaneously hand stirred by one of two master cheese makers.

After a time, the whey is drained and the curds are poured into molds.  They are hand turned up to six times to allow the weight of the curds to compact into a wheel.

Released from the mold, the cheese is now salted and pricked to allow the blue cheese culture to breathe.  The room where the fresh cheese were processed smelled like a sweet cream butter, in a word, amazing!

After a few weeks the culture starts to take hold.  The cheese wheels are moved between a few rooms to age for a total of 90 - 120 days.  The cheese makers sample regularly and are constantly honing their recipe to make a more consistent blue cheese.

Finally the cheese is packaged and sent all over the country.  "Bad boy" wheels are cleaned up with Tim's wedding cake cuter.  Great Hill really does every little thing by hand!

Great Hill sells directly to consumers online, but not at their dairy.  Madeline was nice enough to send us home with a gratis sample.

We enjoyed some of our cheese with crackers.  The flavor develops and is more well rounded when warm.  Great Hill is milder than some blue cheese, but still tangy.  If I weren't on vacation I would be making some into sauce, dressing, maybe even pasta.  But as it is, the cheese is disappearing quickly in afternoon cheese and wine plates.

Columbus-ites can pick up Great Hill blue cheese at Whole Foods and Hills Market.

Strawberry Picking Fri. June 5 1PM

We will be picking strawberries at Doran's (5462 Babbitt Road, New Albany, OH 43054) this Friday afternoon around 1 PM.  Weather is slated to be partly sunny and 76 deg. The walk to the strawberry patch is about 300 yds at most.  They sometimes run a tractor with flatbed for rides to/from the patch. They have a porta john out near the field.

Pick your own are $1.59/lb.  Last year we talked about chemicals and they are a low-chem farm but not organic. The berries are delicious and if the time is right we can probably pick peas too.

They also have pre-picked for $4.50/qt.

Anyone want to join me?

Happy Easter!

That's no dyed egg!  It's the most deep aqua aracauna eggs I have ever seen, provided by one of Ahlam's awesome chickens.  Pretty natural colored eggs are just one of the pleasures of eating locally!

May your eggs be colored and baskets overflowing this year.

Favorite CSA discovery

One of the pleasures of CSA membership is receiving produce that we would never choose for ourselves.  It forces us to learn how to cook and eat different things.  Somethings we agree we wouldn't choose to purchase again, but some things have become favorites. My current favorite CSA vegetable is kale.  We will be seeding kale in our garden this weekend because I love it so much.  It is super high in vitamins K, A, and C, low in calories, and contains organosulpher phytonutrients, substances believed to prevent cancer.  It is so sweet that Lil calls it 'rabbit food' and can be convinced to eat it raw.

Sometimes we throw kale in a salad or soup.  It is delicious sauteed just to wilting with a little olive oil or butter.

Tonight I tried baked kale thanks to recommendations from friends.  I removed the leaves from the stems (saving stems in freezer for veggie stock) and washed them.  Then I drizzled a cookie sheet with olive oil, laid the kale in one layer, put a bit more olive oil on top and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  I baked at 250 deg for a about 20 minutes.

The result is a sweet crispy chip.  We ate it with dinner and are finishing off the leftovers right now.  Yum!

What is your favorite CSA discovery?  How do you love to prepare it?

Make it Yourself: Butter

We receive 1 1/2 gallons of un-homogenized whole milk every week from a local farmer.  Every week we skim the cream.  A few nips are used in coffee, but the rest is dedicated to butter. While at first I thought making butter might be a chore, I remain amazed every week at the transformation of liquid to solid.  I feel like the 15 minutes of shaking is a bit of exercise that burns some of the calories of the delicious butter.  It's actually kinda fun!

First, start with fresh skimmed cream.  We fill jars 1/3 of the way and allow to warm to room temperature.  Cold cream takes much more time to separate and makes less creamy butter in our experience.  For a different (yummier, in my opinion) flavor, make cultured cream by adding a Tbsp of yogurt and allow to culture in a warm place for 24 hours.

Next, start shaking.  After about 5 minutes the cream will fill most of the jar.

Now keep shaking until your arms feel like they might fall off.  They won't.

Soon magical yellow lumps form from the mass of white and you have butter!

Pour off the buttermilk and reserve for use in baking.  (Note: this is not the tangy buttermilk you might buy in the store for making biscuits.  The tangy kind is cultured.  You can make cultured buttermilk by adding starter.) This buttermilk is high in protein and low in fat, making it a great addition to pancakes, waffles, or muffins.

Now shake a minute or two more.  This helps get the last bit of buttermilk out of the butter and forms your butter into a neat pyramidal log.

Take the butter pyramid out of the jar and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.  You may want to press the butter a few times and make sure all the buttermilk is out.  Butterfat will last for weeks unspoiled, but if buttermilk remains spoilage will occur much sooner.

The butter is warm now, so if you are interested in compound butter, now is the time to add herbs and spices.  Add a pinch of salt or leave plain unsalted for baking.  Spread into a bowl, butter dish or butter bell and there you have it!  Delicious butter!

Butter is not necessarily a healthy fat, but it is remarkably delicious.  Butter made at home from a healthy grass fed free range cow is arguably healthier than butter from the store because it has no hormones, no chemical residues, no colorants, and only the salt we add.  It still has plenty of saturated fat and calories which is why we use it sparingly.

Other than a slight health advantage, our favorite reason to make butter at home is to play with the flavors of cultured cream and salt.  When you start from cream, you can control the degree of cultured flavor and adjust seasonings as you need.

While not everyone faces our situation of receiving whole unhomogenized milk weekly, I encourage you to try making butter at least once.  You may find yourself adding homemade butter into your regular routine.

Just workin'

We are busy!  Here's what we have been doing this week: 1) I went to a fun meet and greet CSA event at Wild Goose last night.  Farmers from 2 Silos, Bridgman, Elizabeth Telling, Toad Hill, and Wayward Seed were there, all with spaces in their veggie/egg/meat CSAs still available.

2) We received a new rain barrel from the Rain Brothers today.  It's already installed because it was just replacing the broken one.  And after tonight's storm, it might be full.  Yeah for rain catching!

3) We keep watering our seedlings.  They are starting to look great!  We need to thin some already.

4) I spent a half hour or so removing honeysuckle and english ivy vines from the fence between our house and our neighbor's.  Jan was out weeding from her side too.  We both realize these voracious growers will be a constant battle, but it is such a pleasure to work alongside a neighbor.  I am so grateful to have another gardener next door.  :)

5) I have taken pictures for posts about making butter and the usefulness of glass jars.  Still working on the editing and writing, but good stuff is coming soon.

6)I'm hearing the grumbling about no finished kitchen pictures.  That's because it isn't done yet!  Another post is slated for the little things we have yet to finish...

Eating Local and CSAs at Wild Goose!

I just got this from Wayward Seed farm:

'Learn how to eat local and savor the season's best food all summer long. Join The Wayward Seed Farm on Wednesday, April 1st at 7:00pm at Wild Goose Creativefor a discussion about CSA and local food. Other farms planning to attend include Toad Hill Organic Farm, Bridgman Farm, Elizabeth Telling Farm, and 2Silos.

Also joining us and supporting our efforts...Donnie from House Wine with Organic Wines, Tehku Tea Company with tea and scones, and cupcakes from Hanford St. Bakery'

The Wild Goose site suggests a $5 donation. Wild Goose is located at 2491 Summit Street Columbus, OH 43202

The organic wine sealed the deal - I'm going to try to make it tomorrow night!