7 min read
Key Points
Oysters weren’t meant to thrive in Alaska’s frigid waters, but cold temperatures make them sweeter, plumper, and available year-round.Alaskan oyster farmers grow their spat from Hawaii in cold hatcheries, harvesting at three to four years old to create larger, meatier oysters with distinctive, crisp, clean flavors.Chefs are reimagining Alaskan oysters beyond raw preparations (including oyster ice cream!).
From humble street food to happy hour staple, oysters have spanned the test of time. When many people think about oysters, they think of seafood tower-friendly cities like New Orleans, Seattle, and New York. But what if I told you that the best oysters actually come from Alaska? This spring, I flew to Cordova, Alaska, with the Alaska Mariculture Alliance to check the scene out for myself and see if the oysters really live up to the hype. (Spoiler: They do.)
What Makes Alaskan Oysters Different?
It’s no secret that Alaska is far removed from the Lower 48. Leaving from my home in New York City, it took nearly 12 hours of travel to make it to Anchorage, followed the next morning by a rain-splattered 45-minute flight into Cordova, a port town of around 2,300 that served as our home base.
I wasn’t the only one who had to travel far, though—oysters also live far away from Alaska. In fact, they aren’t really supposed to be there at all.
PHOTO: ALASKA MARICULTURE ALLIANCE
Oysters aren’t traditionally found in cold water, as they can’t reproduce once the water falls below a certain temperature (around 68°F). Because of this, they are grown first as spat (tiny oyster larvae) in warmer climates.
Seawan Gehlbach, founder of Simpson Bay Oyster Company, says that much of the spat grown locally is supplied from Hawaii. The spat is then sent to hatcheries in Alaska, where it grows into seed oysters (juveniles that are still under an inch long) before it’s sold to farmers to be planted and grown to harvest size.
While there are some farms in Maine that practice the same technique, the water temperature there is slightly warmer, meaning occasionally oysters there are able to spawn. This is not the case in the frigid waters of Alaska.
It’s precisely this relationship between cold water and oysters that makes Alaskan oysters so incredible.
PHOTO: COLTON TROWBRIDGE
“The actual chemistry of being in cold water makes them high in glycogen, and you can taste that difference in the oyster,” Gehlbach says. “They are sweeter, and they aren’t putting their energy into reproductive organs; they aren’t going into a reproductive cycle.”
This is important for a few reasons. For one, the fact that oysters aren’t able to reproduce in the cold waters of Alaska means there is no fear of the non-native species spreading and competing with native species, as is so often the case when species are introduced into a new area outside of their natural range.
PHOTO: ALASKA MARICULTURE ALLIANCE
It’s also during the reproductive cycle that oysters start to get that dreaded cloudy, mushy taste and texture that signals the end of the season, so the fact that Alaskan oysters never go through this process allows for them to stay in the water year-round and grow slower and larger.
Outside of Alaska, people generally refer to the “R” rule for when oysters are safe to eat. The rule claims you should only eat oysters in months with an “R” in their name, avoiding the warmer summer months of May, June, July, and August. Because oysters reproduce during these months, the theory goes that they won’t taste as good. While that rule largely applies to wild-caught and not farmed oysters, Alaska’s cold water circumvents the issue altogether.
“Alaskan waters afford growers and consumers a significant advantage. The meat is remarkably plump, firm, and juicy with a buttery bite, year-round,” says Lori Keres-Jensen, who, alongside her partner Roderick Jensen, manages Safety Cove Oyster Farm.
PHOTO: COLTON TROWBRIDGE
How Are Alaskan Oysters Farmed?
Oysters grown in warmer climates are generally harvested at around one year old, but Alaskan oysters grow more slowly and are harvested when they’re around three to four years old. This results in larger, meatier oysters with deeper cups, and also allows more flexibility within the bitterly cold winter season.
“The great thing about oysters is that I don’t have to harvest them all at a particular time. When your cherries are ripe, you better pick all your cherries, but oysters aren’t that way in that you can leave them in the water—and they’ll continue to grow, so you’re going to have a larger product—but you’re still going to be able to find markets for them, and they’re still going to be beautiful seafood,” Gehlbach says.
Both Gehlbach and Keres-Jensen say the coldest winter months, December through February, force a step back from the hands-on, day-to-day maintenance of the farms, with the year’s new seeds planted in March and a final harvest around October to November based on weather conditions.
PHOTO: COLTON TROWBRIDGE
How Do Alaskan Oysters Taste?
It’s not just the water temperature that affects the taste of Alaskan oysters, but the water quality as well. Oysters are filter feeders—a single oyster pulls in and filters between 20 and 50 gallons of water a day—which means they’re filtering everything in the water system through their gills and trapping organic material. Because of this, oysters, even within the same bay, have different flavor notes based on the specifics of the water systems in which they live and feed. Much like wines have terroir, oysters have merroir.
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“We’re growing oysters in really clean water systems, really productive [water systems], and there are lots of great nutrients in the ocean here, so that’s also part of the flavor that you’re picking up in the oysters,” Gehlbach says.
PHOTO: COLTON TROWBRIDGE
On Gehlbach’s farm, one of the farthest north in the state, the merroir is largely defined by seriously cold winter weather and a cold watershed which, fed year-round from snowpack, sits just behind the farm. This gives her oysters, which I had the great pleasure of tasting myself, a fantastically crisp, clean flavor.
Safety Cove Oyster Farm also operates in Simpson Bay, and Keres-Jensen credits a nutrient-rich, deep water upwelling current for the large size and meatiness of their oysters.
“They are naturally sweet with a bright, clean vegetal note that is often compared to cucumber, melon, or poached pear, and their salinity is perfectly balanced—refreshing and brisk without being aggressively salty,” Keres-Jensen says.
I thoroughly enjoyed them raw with a squeeze of fresh lemon, but Roderick says—at least for those not shucked and enjoyed while still on the water—the family favors Lori’s “Creole Bordelaise oysters finished with artisanal smoked parmesan.”
PHOTO: ALASKA MARICULTURE ALLIANCE
How To Use Alaskan Oysters
So by now we know that Alaskan oysters taste incredible all on their own, but the buck doesn’t have to stop there. I spoke with Chef Mandy Dixon, a James Beard Foundation award-winning chef and owner/manager of Tutka Bay Lodge, about some of her favorite ways to serve the mollusks.
To start, Dixon sources all of the lodge’s oysters from local farms in Kachemak Bay. “Using local ingredients is really the foundation of how we cook at Tutka Bay Lodge. It is how most people in Alaska cook,” Dixon says. “When guests come here, I want them to taste this place, feel its history and food culture.”
As far as pairings go, she likes to let the oysters shine, rather than loading them up with strong flavors that would overwhelm their delicate flavors.
PHOTO: ALASKA MARICULTURE ALLIANCE
“Bright acidity works beautifully. Like green apple, cucumber, yuzu, rhubarb vinegar, spruce tips, fermented berries, or light herb oils. Because the oysters are so clean tasting, they also pair naturally with smoke and cream in small amounts,” Dixon says.
Oysters aren’t just for savory dishes either. Currently on the Tutka Bay Lodge menu, you can find Kachemak Bay oysters served with green apple sorbet, a dish that Dixon says came from wanting to “creat[e] something that felt like standing on the shoreline here—cold air, saltwater, and freshness.”
Lately, Dixon says she’s been interested in finding ways to incorporate oysters into sweet recipes and pastries. “We made an oyster ice cream last summer, and it was so delicious. It inspired me to try more dessert recipes with oysters. Alaska has such a unique pantry, and I think we’re only scratching the surface of what coastal Alaskan cuisine can become.”
How To Try Them
Alaskan oysters are more than just an elevated version of a food loved across the globe; they’re a map and story of the place they call home. “Alaska is blessed with some of the best seafood in the world…and some of the most beautiful scenery. We want to share our love for this incredible state, our amazing seafood, and especially our delicious oysters with the rest of this beautiful world,” Keres-Jensen says.
When I asked Gehlbach what she hoped for the future of the market for Alaskan oysters outside of Alaska, she told me, “For sure that market is out there, but I guess I kind of have this little joke that I want people to come here to eat the oysters. I don’t want to ship them everywhere. If people can come to Cordova, come to Valdez, and eat good oysters, that’s a win,” Gehlbach says.
PHOTO: ALASKA MARICULTURE ALLIANCE
Dixon echoed this sentiment, saying, “I think people are increasingly interested in foods that have a strong sense of place and traceability. Alaskan oysters have a very compelling story behind them. As more chefs and consumers become familiar with them, I think the market will continue to grow.”
Of course, not everyone is able to travel to Alaska, but that doesn’t mean there’s no access to the best oysters in the world. Companies like Alaska Shellfish Farms out of Homer ship Alaskan oysters nationwide, and let me tell you, they arrive fresh.
When they graciously shipped a case of live oysters to the Delish Test Kitchen, the whole staff was shocked to hear they came all the way from Alaska—and that they were so huge! Brooke Caison, our very own shucking expert, prepared half of the shipment raw on the half shell and the other half in a variation on oysters Rockefeller, substituting crushed sour cream and onion chips for breadcrumbs.
After everyone had the chance to try them, the results were unanimous: They really are the best.
Dining and Cooking