“Wild thing, you make my heart sing” popularized by the English rock band the Troggs, was going through my head as I slurped the oysters from Mossel Bay. Eighteen in all, and I was in heaven. Nestled within the Mossel Bay Harbour, the Mossel Bay Oyster Bar offers an idyllic setting for basking in the afternoon sun while indulging in freshly shucked wild oysters. Truly, an afternoon not to forget, my first wild oyster.
Wild Oysters of Mossel Bay come from the Klein Bark River near Mossel Bay. Mossel Bay is a gem along the Garden Route and always has been one of South Africa’s biggest sources of wild oysters. There are several indigenous species of oysters in South Africa, with the Cape rock oyster or black oyster growing largest on rocky reefs along the east coast. Oysters and their relatives, such as scallops, mussels, and clams, have existed for over 500 million years. Over a decade ago, archaeologists exploring a nearby cave in South Africa uncovered evidence of shellfish dinners enjoyed by humans from 164,000 years ago. This demonstrates how early of a role oysters played in early society and survival.
Oysters are harvested with legal permits form the ocean ensuring that Cape Oysters supplies only the best fresh wild oysters. The Oysters harvested are from the specie called Streostrea Margaretacea – also known as Common Rock Oysters. Harvesting is done in sustainable and eco-friendly manor. Oysters can be distributed though out South Africa. All Oysters are live, none frozen and can live without water for up to 1 week in cold storage.
I was mad with curiosity. I have eaten oysters all over the world but why was this my first straight from the wild and not farmed. But if you think about it all oysters were wild. Sadly, now farmed oysters account for 95 percent of the world’s total oyster consumption.
Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Romans as early as the 1st century BC on the Italian peninsula. In fact, the Romans were the very first to cultivate Oysters. A Roman engineer was known for his innovative ways of breeding and commercializing oysters. He did this by cultivating the mollusk with a system that could control the water levels. But still they were wild species. The Ancient Romans started farming the Thames Estuary in Hampton-On-Sea, in Kent, England from the 1st Century to approximately the 4th Century.
King Henri IV was said to eat an eye-popping 300 of them at a time. His grandson Louis XIV had them delivered fresh daily to Versailles or wherever he was and was known to eat six dozen at a time. The French oyster industry has relied on 'aqua cultured' oysters since the late 18th century. In 1852 Monsieur de Bon started to re-seed the oyster beds by collecting the oyster spawn using makeshift catchers. An important step to the modern oyster farming was the oyster farm built by Hyacinthe Boeuf in the Ile de Ré. After obtaining the rights to a part of the coast he built a wall to make a reservoir and to break the strength of the current. Sometime later the wall was covered with spat coming spontaneously from the sea which gave 2000 baby oysters per square meter. France is the No. 1 consumer and exporter of oysters in Europe producing 150,000 tons every year.
Back to South Africa, Oyster farming there began in the late 1600s when European settlers attempted to farm the native Cape rock oyster along the Cape coast. Efforts to farm non-native European flat oysters and Portuguese oysters were unsuccessful in the 1940s. In the mid-19th century, oysters gained prominence in South Africa, and oyster farming became synonymous with coastal towns like Knysna. And the introduction of Pacific oysters for aquaculture purposes occurred in the late 1970s.
Comments