Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-21
written for The Evening Star.
PLCMPING OYSTERS FOR MAKkE

How the Bivalves Are Patterned" By Artifice
for Epicures.
MOT EVERY LOVER OF THE OYSTER
AZ knows that the size and plumpness which
are SO highly priced in the great American b.
valve, and which are 30 attractive in specimens
on the half-shell or in stew as to lead the av-
erage man to pay an extra price for extra size.
are not entirely natural Yet it is the usual
practice for dealers, instead Of selling the oys-
tiers in the condition in which they are taken
from the saltwater beds, to first place them for
u time--forty-eigh hours, more or less-in fresh
or brackish water, in order, as they say, to
'fatten" them, the operation being called
floating OF '1aying-out." By this process
the body Of the oyster acquires such plump
ness and rotundity, and its bulk and weight
are so increased, as to materially increase its
selling value.
The belief Is common among oystermeu that
this ''fattening' is due to an actual gain Of
flesh and fat and that the nutritive value of the
mollusk is increased by the process. Such.
however, is very far from being the truth. II
bladder be filed with salt water and then put
into fresh water the salt water will gradually
work its way out through the pores Of the
bladder and at the same time the fresher water
will eI.ter the bladder Furthermore. the Fl esh
water will go in much more rapidly than tie
salt water goes out. ewing to the fact that the
latter 10 more dense. The result will be that
the amount of water in the bladder will be in
creased ano. the bladder will swell: by taking up
more water than it loses. while at the same
time it loses portion Of the salt. The same
principle exactly applies to the oyster.
Roughly speaking, the body of the oyster
may be regarded as a collection OF membrane
Gus sacs. These sacs are impregnated with the
Wa in vvh ami m lvoa
30 long as the bivalve remains in the salt water
the solution Of salt within it ia in equilibrium
with the water outside. But when it is placed in
fresh or brackish water the salt passes out Of
the body and larger amount Of fresh water
enters. producing the distension called "fst-
tening."
THEY FATTEN IN WARM, FRESH WATER.
Oystermen find that the oysters ''fatten''
much more quickly in fresh than in brackish
water, quite naturally. Warmth, too, is so
favorable to the process that it is sometimes
found profitable to slightly heat the water in
which the oysters are foated. Although oysters
are generally foated in the shell the same
effect is very commonly obtained by adding
fresh water to the oysters after they have been
'shucked." Oysters lose much of their salty
flavor In floating. of course, and 1t is chiefly on
that account that the specimens one eats are 80
apt to be less salt than would be agreeable TO the
palate. II the 'fattened" oysters are left too
long on the float they become lean again. Ex-
perienced dealers say that the time for allowing
salt oysters to ''lie out" is seldom over two or
three days, at the end Of which time the maxi
mum plumpness is obtained. At Franklin
City, Nd, oysters are .fattened" on consider
able scale, and one planter there warns fresh
water for the purpose to 60 degrees Fahrenheit
In winter by steam pipes running beneath the
wooden Enclosure which surrounds the plump
ing float
Good fat oysters generally yield five quarts
OF solid meat to the bushel, but after floating
two tides or more in a tide river they will
measure six quarts per busheL Finally they
are taken from the shells il they are to be
shipped in that way, and when the liquor IL all
strained off they are washed in cold fresh
water at packed for market. In warm weather
they are put into TIE water with ice
In q report soon TO be issued by the United
States fish commission on this subject it is
stated than an average quart of oysters con-
tains about the same quantity OF nutritive SUBJ
stance as quart % milk Or a pound Of very
lean beef or pound and a half of fresh cod
fish or two-thirds of pound Of bread
Oysters come nearer to milk than almost any
other common food material as regards both
the amounts and the relative proportions of
Nutrients, and the food values of equal
weights Of milk and oysters are pretty nearly
the same.