Sampling Wellfleet’s oysters

The first wild oysters, with their sweet, briny flavor and deep cupped shells, inspired shellfishermen to farm the mollusk. Seeds shipped in from Buzzards Bay, Connecticut and the Chesapeake were planted in the harbor, flushed with the cool, salty tides and harvested for city markets.

Today, both the native and the farmed traditions remain in high esteem. The Wellfleet OysterFest, flooded with thousands of visitors each October, is testament to that. As Indian Neck Sea Farms puts it on their Web site, “You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted Wellfleet shellfish.”

To taste one Wellfleet oyster, however, is not to know them all. Each area of the harbor produces a distinct flavor. Salinity, rates of tidal flow and water depth and temperature all influence the shape of the shell and the quality of the meat. Recently we sampled oysters at Mac’s Seafood. taken from different areas, at Seafood

Oysters are best eaten in cooler months. In mid-July, the oysters begin to spawn and weaken in meatiness and flavor. As the water warms up, they will also lose a hint of the crisp, saline cleanliness that is their trademark. The old saying goes, best eaten in months with the letter “r.”

This remote island is buffered by high dunes and wide expanses of tidal flats. Its oysters cannot be dragged, as even at high tide the flats are too shallow to accommodate a boat; instead, shellfishermen walk out to pick them once a month on a low moon tide when the mollusks are briefly exposed. The thick shell is light in color and has a deep cup. The characteristically briny meat is bigger than that of many farmed Wellfleets, and slightly sweet as it lingers on the tongue.

The mix of ocean and fresh water in Blackfish Creek, a deep meandering tidal gives its oysters a sweeter taste. Most are planted from seed, sorted by size for months, and carefully moved from fine mesh to larger bags and finally into wire cages before achieving market size.

These oysters, up creek off the shores of Lieutenant Island, retain the Wellfleet brine and a hint of sweetness, but they lack the smooth texture of the moon tide oysters.

Mouth of Blackfish Creek

The rich, delicate deep-cupped farmed oyster from the mouth of the creek begins with a classic Wellfleet brine and finishes with an almost honeyed sweetness.

Because it was grown in fast moving water, the body is elongated and the shell thin. Upriver under only a shallow covering of water, the oyster struggles to fill its shell, a fight revealed in its smaller, less smooth meat and lack of sweetness. While it doesn’t measure up to the sweet Blackfish mollusks, it retains that briny Wellfleet flavor.

Wild dragged “west side” oysters are full of meat, and creamy to boot. Because it grows in deeper water, it never sees air, making for a hard shell and deep cup like the Great Island variety.