Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-25
TOOTHSOME TBRRaPIN.
Likely to Be Plentiful This Season
Facts About the DeliCacy.


BALTIMORE, Nov. 20.-The diamond
back terrapin season has been open
couple of weeks now, and enough time
has elapsed to show what kind of a season
it is to be. All the big dealers in Balti-
more say that terrapin are unusually
plentiful, and that the scare promulgated
from New York is entirely unreasonable
and unsupported. Baltimore is the great
est terrapin market in the world, just as
the Chesapeake Bay is the greatest feed
ing ground for these reptiles. 1t is
estimated that out of this bay and
It's tributaries over $l,5O0,00O worth OF
terrapin are taken annually. AT the
average price of $50 dozen this means
900, 900 terrapin. and 1t requires the steady
work of over 500 men to catch them. Like
the canvas-back duck, the terrapin feeds
chiefly on water celery or watercress, and
this grass is particularly abundant in the
Chesapeake, more so, in fact, than in
any other body of water in the world.
This explains why the canvas-back duck,
after leaving his British home, farther
north than even New York Aldermen go,
flies straight to the Chesapeake. 1t ex-
plains, too, why the terrap1n ro0stsi in its
coyes and refuse to leave until taken
away to grace the festivities or the ban.
quet hall.
And yet terrapin is comparatively re-
cent dish. Within the present century
one Of the great planters of Anne Arun-
del county leaves 1t On record that he
bought the best terrapin in the Annapolis
market for twelve and half cents each,
and that his slaves once rebelled because
he gave them terrapin instead of pork.
Forty years ago old John NJ. Clayton, the
biggest statesman Delaware ever
roionH ond w tho frat fn
discover the almost divine succulence
that reposes in a good dish of terrapin,
bought them by the quantities paying 81
for an ox-cart load, which he would have
dumped in the cellar like ton of
coal. Here the terrapin lay all the
winter or until the demands of
the table had exhausted the
stock. A popularity of tue terrapin is
that starvation does not hurt it. The big
gest dealer In Baltimore nailed one In a
box securely and gave it neither food nor
drink for three months. When he took it
out it weighed an ounce more than it did
when he put it in. This sounds like a
Delaware river fish story, but it is solid
truth nevertheless. 1t ia said that ASH
ington and Lafayette and CORVALLIS and
Tarleton softened the asperities of York
town by dishes of terrapiD, but they EVIL
IDENTIFY kept the delicacy to themselves,
for it never attained any great popularity
until the last half century.
The demand for terrapin extends to
every city in this country and to Europe.
No large dinner is complete without it..
Its growing popularity in England is due
entirely to American influence. Those
who have never seen a Britisher before
whom is set tor the first time dish of
terrapin has missed a study in facial eX-
preston that is as interesting as it is
amusing. Invariably he gazes at 1t as if
it were plate of boiled fishing worms.
Then after much persuasion he tastes it,
and forever more he is a friend of the ter
rapin. Baltimore Philadelphia and
Washington are the cities where the dish
can be found IN its most perfect excel
lence. The recipes are numerous, from
the famous one of Sam Ward which cap
tivated the Prince ofSsNV ales, to all the
modern improyene ats;; but Che terrapin,
like beauty, is adorned the most when
adorned the least, and it should always
be served hot. The traeaway to enjoy
terrapin is not to bury it amid the ruins
of a multitarious bill OF fare, but to give
it the whole field and plenty Of favor and
sprinkle the dry road that leads to the
interior department with occasional sips
of good dry champagne. When healthy
man does that he can shut his eyes and
saw With a clear conscience that life is
worth living.