By Carrie Honaker · Photos by Alissa Aryn and Steven Gray
I slurped my first bivalve at Posey's Oyster Bar, a shanty-style building floating over St. Mark's River in Wakulla County, Florida. It came on an orange cafeteria tray with a sleeve of saltines and a squeeze bottle of cocktail — straight from water to shucker to me.
Posey's shuttered after devastating storm surge damage, and beds where wild oysters once thrived closed for overfishing.
A new industry emerged to fill the need: oyster farming.
Tidal Guides on Pensacola Bay
I drove to Garcon Boat Ramp as the sun came up over Pensacola Bay to meet Brandon Smith, owner of Grayson Bay Oyster Company. We boated out to his leases, which had been devastated by Hurricane Sally in 2020.
His oysters, called Tidal Guides, capture the influence of nearby rivers like the Yellow, Blackwater, and Indian on Pensacola Bay. The flavor profiles of the oysters change depending on the harvest, how much rain they get, and the tides. His company name, Grayson Bay, takes inspiration from his sons (Grayson and Baylen) who sometimes accompany Smith on the farm and deliver oysters to local restaurants.
Smith hauls a cage from the water, pulling an oyster out to shuck. Right there on the boat, I slurp it unadorned. The crisp, clean, minerally taste has sweetness on the back end, like a blue crab lingering flavor with a bit of celery.
Producing high-quality oysters takes hard work: flipping cages, tumbling, setting gear, and harvesting. For Smith, a career biologist working with water quality, compliance, and chemistry, oyster farming offered a release from his increasingly deskbound life.
"I wake up early, see the sunrise over the water, work in the water," said Smith. "It's exciting to go all the way from putting the seed in, to witnessing a customer discover farmed oysters for the first time on a plate at Pearl & Horn."
Farmed, Not Wild
Despite the increased call for oysters, some reticence still remains when customers see farm-raised oysters on the menu. Expectations of a Gulf Coast oyster lean towards large, inexpensive, and served on crackers with a bottle of cocktail sauce. But farmed oysters not only provide a more consistent, cleaner eating experience, they lessen the pressure on wild reefs and help the environment.
"Farmed oysters live and grow in their natural environments on the lease, hanging in baskets above the sediment, feeding off the algae," said Chef Coleman Jernigan at The Citizen in Alys Beach, Florida. "But the coolest thing is the science behind farming. A marine biologist grows your spat and develops this lineage of almost heirloom oysters. They've figured out a way to harness Mother Nature's ability to grow these delicious, beautiful oysters but make them cleaner, more efficient. They should be very proud."
Roadside boiled peanuts, smoked mullet, and tupelo honey stands dot the landscape as I pull onto the stretch of Forgotten Coast where Dewey and Jody Houck farm their Cypress Point Oysters. Life's quieter in Spring Creek, but the Houcks' passion for their cultivated oysters palpitates.
"Somebody told me I couldn't raise an oyster that would compete with fine cocktail oysters like Kumamotos," said Jody. "Nobody believed you could grow and sell a cocktail oyster from the Gulf of Mexico. As soon as somebody tells me I can't do something, I can't help myself."
Often when asked about oyster consumption, people mention the "R" rule — to only eat oysters in certain months, avoiding bivalves that might not taste good or be unsafe. That rule doesn't apply to farm-raised oysters.
"Farmed oysters are highly regulated: rapid refrigeration by 11 o'clock, can't be out of the water more than four hours or have to return for 14 days," said Jody. "We are very conscious about handling all oysters with the highest level of food safety. It's not like you're going to get an oyster that sat on somebody's boat for four hours, or all day, or in the back of a truck with a tarp over it."
Thirty Million Oyster Babies
A little further west in Alabama, Murder Point Oyster Company grows them from microscopic larvae to seed to oysters ready to be harvested. I talked to M.C. Eastburn, hatchery manager, on a recent Sunday while she fed and monitored her 30 million oyster babies.
"It's 80 hours a week of bugs and sweat, but if you love what you do, you don't really think about it being hard," said Eastburn. "I'm there the day they're made. I watch them grow and see them eventually harvested. There's something really cool about seeing your work come full circle."
Prized for the creamy, buttery, but not too salty flavor, Murder Point oysters are fan favorites at restaurants along the Gulf Coast. Eastburn asserts the smooth flavor comes from nutrient-rich water and diversity of algae to feed on in Sandy Bay, where they're grown.
Chef Amy Potmesil at The Well in Pensacola agrees. Murder Point oysters often have a spot on her rotating raw bar program, but she also includes farm-raised oysters from different areas of the country. "We want people to come in for an oyster experience, try local ones that might taste a certain way alongside ones from Alaska or Virginia to see the contrast."
The Story of the Farmer
Other dining spots give even more menu real estate. Chef Phil McDonald of Black Bear Bread Company in Grayton Beach, Florida, leans heavily on local farm-raised oysters. "I always try to order oysters from the Gulf Coast — I want to show off what we're doing here."
Provenance has become more important in recent years as consumers grow increasingly interested in where their food comes from and how it's grown or produced. For Chef Thomas Derbes of Emerald Coast Oyster Company, having relationships with farmers gives insight into the provenance of the oysters he serves. "You can get wild oysters from Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, but you don't know where those oysters come from. The oysters I serve come with the story of the farmer, where they grew, and the environmental benefits they provide."
Even though supply isn't always consistent, chefs like Jernigan continue to prioritize and support Gulf Coast farmers. "Last time we got Salty Birds from Pelican Oyster Company in Spring Creek, we got three bags and they were gone in three hours. I don't care if you can sell me two bags or a hundred — we'll buy them, we'll sell them, and we'll support the farmers."
It's a symbiotic relationship according to Cainnon Gregg, who grows those Salty Birds. "When a restaurant puts Salty Birds on the menu, it shows the chef trusts the farmer and knows where the oysters came from, and then people dine at those restaurants because they trust the chef."
We tell the story of the Gulf Coast every time an oyster from this area is shucked and slurped.
"When you go to Nashville and see oysters from Mobile, that's a taste of home, of summers swimming in the bay," said Eastburn. "If I see Gulf Coast oysters on a menu anywhere around the country, I'm gonna order them because it connects me to home."
How to Eat Oysters: Advice from Chefs
Most chefs agree a mignonette should accompany raw oysters, but that's where the agreement ends. Some like crackers, some like bread, some like fresh herbs. The possibilities are endless.
Chef Amy Potmesil, The Well, Pensacola
"I try to tie in as much fermentation as possible into our raw bar program. I made a sour beer mignonette and a kimchi cocktail sauce. Our hot sauce ferments for at least two weeks to give it deeper complexity and to make it a little bit hotter, a little bit funkier. The final touch: very tart lemon, jello-ish pearls that give you a way to apply your lemon to the oyster that isn't just a wedge."
Chef Phil McDonald, Black Bear Bread Co., Grayton Beach
"We serve them with a red wine mignonette, lemons, fresh shaved horseradish, cocktail sauce, and a side of sliced sourdough with cultured butter. I'm taking more of a French approach with the oyster."
Chef Thomas Derbes, Emerald Coast Oyster Company, Pensacola
"Right now I'm serving them with a blueberry black garlic mignonette. Blueberries are in season, the black garlic comes from The Farm in Pensacola, so local oysters, local ingredients. Wherever I'm shucking on the Gulf Coast, I serve oysters from that area and keep my ingredients seasonal for the mignonettes."
Chef George Lazi, Pearl & Horn, Pensacola
"We serve oysters with house-made curry cocktail sauce and red wine mignonette. We garnish with some herbs like rosemary, which some customers sprinkle on top of the oysters. Slurping oysters takes you to places you love by the beach, by the water. It's bringing back childhood memories with that briny smell, that freshness."
Chef Coleman Jernigan, The Citizen, Alys Beach
"We have three permanent sauces: a spicy cocktail sauce, a classic red wine mignonette, and a house-made hot sauce. We rotate a seasonal mignonette that gives our cooks a little bit of creative freedom, like our current Yuzu Koshō. It's got spice, it's got salinity, it's got a little sugar and it definitely has acid — it's the perfect storm for an oyster. We serve all that with hot buttered saltines. There's nothing better in this world than a hot buttered saltine."
To learn more about the Gulf Coast oyster farms, follow them on Instagram: @cypresspointoysterco, @pelicanoysterco, @graysonbayoysterco, @murderpointoysterco.
Originally published in Beach Happy Magazine, Volume 10 (Fall 2022). Story by Carrie Honaker. Photos by Alissa Aryn and Steven Gray, with images courtesy of Pearl & Horn, The Well, and Murder Point Oyster Co.
