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Great Gun Oysters
By Hand And Sea
Marjorie Post Unqua Zappa Woods West Shore Drive Peninsula East Shore Drive
Marjorie Post Unqua Zappa Woods West Shore Drive Peninsula East Shore Drive
The Unqua microenvironment is nestled in along the mainland shore, protected from all directions of the wind. Tall marsh grass and salt bush lie just off its north side, filtering tidal wash and fresh rain returning to its waters. As in all of Great Gun’s microenvironments, scarlet and dark purple sea greens dot Unqua’s sea floor and attach to the oyster gear, adding their interesting mix of minerality and nuttiness to a varied flavor profile. Unqua’s oysters are fast growers, first reaching market size in early winter when they are only 10 – 11 months old, offering customers an early and pure expression of the microenvironment’s merroir.
The Zappa Woods microenvironment lies in the northeast section of the Great Gun farm, a stone’s throw from pristine cedar-forested shore. Buffered from prevailing west and southwest winds by the oyster bags floating in the surrounding microenvironments, the oysters growing in Zappa enjoy the calmest conditions on the farm. Without the intense daily impacts of wind and waves, they are free to feed without interruption and grow at an incredibly fast pace. By early-autumn, the first spring-planted seed reach market size on Zappa, affording customers a chance to taste the bright flavors of the youngest oysters on the farm. During the growing season, large drifting masses of emerald sea lettuce known as Ulva permeate Zappa’s entire water column. This brilliant sea green is high in umami, a savory taste which deepens other flavors and is described as “the essence of deliciousness.” Scarlet and purple sea greens are also present in the mix of Zappa’s marine plants, complementing Ulva’s savoriness with surprising notes of minerality and nuttiness.
Occupying the southwest corner of the Great Gun farm, the West Shore Drive microenvironment is fully exposed to the bay’s prevailing west and southwest winds. High-energy waves constantly rock and tumble West Shore’s oysters. This tumbling chips away the edges of their new growth and gives their muscles a heavy workout as they flex to keep their shells clamped shut in all the commotion. The result is a very slow growing oyster (many taking 16 months or more to reach market size), with layers of shell forming the deepest cups and enveloping the fullest meats on the farm. Oversized adductor muscles add sweetness and a rich, creamy texture during the fall and winter months. Underground springs from the adjacent shore’s freshwater wetlands extend their reach to the northern portions of West Shore, bubbling up cool minerality and sweetness into the water column. To the southwest, a recently formed ocean inlet provides a fresh influx of brininess with the flood tide, providing a nice balance to West Shore’s sweet flavor profile. Scarlet and purple sea greens add even more interesting and unexpected flavors to this microenvironment during the growing season.
Peninsula is a southward-facing microenvironment, situated between East Shore Drive and West Shore Drive. While slightly protected from east and west winds, Peninsula, like its neighbors, is exposed to a lot of wave- crafting energy. Edges of new growth are constantly pruned away as the oysters collide in their rocking bags, creating deep-cupped shells. Peninsula’s oysters develop big adductor muscles in the waves, adding fullness, sweetness and a rich texture to their bright meats. Fresh brininess reaches Peninsula on both sides of the tide from nearby ocean inlets to the east and west, adding a nice punch of salt. As with East and West Shore’s Great Guns, Peninsula’s oysters are slow growers, accumulating their flavors and textures over time—the majority taking 14 months or more to reach market size. Common to all of Great Gun’s microenvironments, scarlet and purple sea greens dot an otherwise bare, sandy bottom, adding notes of minerality and nuttiness to a clean, briny profile.
Occupying the southeast corner of the site, East Shore Drive is the oceanic microenvironment, the first to receive blasts of fresh seawater from easterly storms and a nearby barrier-beach inlet. This clean, pure brininess is at the center of East Shore’s flavor profile. Similar to Great Guns cultivated in the neighboring West Shore Drive and Peninsula microenvironments, East Shore Drive’s oysters are heavily wave-crafted, resulting in shells that are strong, hard and deeply cupped. The constant jostling and rocking of waves washing over East Shore creates slow-growing oysters (most of East Shore’s oysters take 14 or more months to reach market size) with adductor muscles as big and bright as a scallop, adding extra fullness, sweetness and a rich texture to their meats. From December to April, dense rows of sugar kelp are cultivated among the oysters growing in East Shore. The kelp’s lush amber-colored fronds bathe East Shore’s Great Guns with complex minerality, mild metallicity and an earthy savoriness. During the summer season, scarlet and dark purple sea greens, which appear in all the Great Gun microenvironments, add their own version of intriguing minerality to East Shore’s flavor profile.
Located in the northwest section of the Great Gun farm, the Marjorie Post microenvironment is partially exposed to the bay’s prevailing west and southwest winds, and its breezy surface waters provide plenty of wave-crafting. Marjorie’s oysters are moderate-to-slow growers, cupping nicely over the 12 -15 months before they’re harvested for market. Fed from freshwater wetlands and pools along the shore, cold underground springs percolate sweetness and minerality up from Marjorie’s sandy sea floor. Scarlet and dark purple sea greens are also part of the Marjorie mix, bringing nutty and savory flavors into the field.
