Patent ID: 6544571
Filing Date: 2003-04-08
Classification: A23L

Abstract:
A method of enhancing the flavor of oysters, comprising:providing freshly harvested oysters from predetermined open areas; placing the oysters on washing tables and rinsing the oysters with fresh water to remove external mud and detritus; removing all clusters and un-uniform oysters for immediate shucking leaving only the single half-shell stock; placing the single half-shell stock onto perforated trays, each tray being placed in slots on movable racks which contain reservoirs of enhanced water and pumps with filters, wherein each rack is a column of 15-20 levels of trays; pumping the water from the bottom of the column to the top tray, the water falling through each level, and upon initializing wet-storage, the water in each rack is approximately the same temperature as the oysters placed in the rack; and approximately one hour after wet-storage has begun, adding high salinity water to the reservoir to begin to increase salinity of the water to 25-35 ppt, wherein the temperature of the oysters is maintained at or below 12 degrees C.