Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1892-02-17
PLUMBING OYSTERS.
How the Bivalves Are Prepared
= for the Market
A Process by Which the Toothsome
Dainty II Rendered Full and Fat q.
for the Tongue Of the
EplcurOs

Epicuro< H.
Not every lover Of the oyster knows
that the size and plumpness which are
30 highly priced in the great American
bivalve and which areso attractive in
specimens on the haH-shell or in stew
are not entirely natural. Yet it is the
usual practice for dealers, instead of
selling the oysters in the condition in
which they are taken front the salt
water beds, to first place them for a
time-forty-eight hours. more or less
in fresh or brackish water IN order, as
they say, to ''fatten" them, the opera
ton being called t'loating'' or Staying
out" BY this process the body of the
oyster acquires such q plumpness and
rotundity and its bulk and weight are
80 increased as TO materially increase
its selling value.
The belief Is common among oyster
men, says the Chicago News, 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. If bladder be
flied with salt water and then put into
fresh water the salt water will gradu-
ally work its way out through the pores
Of the bladder and at the same time the
freSher' water will enter the bladder.
Furthermore, the fresh water will 90
in much more rapidly than the salt
water goes out, owing to the fact that
the latter is more dense. The result
will be that the amount of water in the
In will ha h. Il
der will swell by taking up M q water
than it loses, while at the same time it
loses. q portion of the SILT. The same,
principle exactly applies to the oyater,
Roughly speaking, the body of the
oyster may be regarded as q collection
Of membranous sacs. These sacs are
impregnatcd with the salt of tho sea
water in which the animal lives. 81
long as the bivalve remains in the salt
water the solution Of salt within il is in
equilibrium with the water outside.
But when it is placed in salt or. brackish
water the salt passes out of the body
and larger amount of fresh water
enters, producing the distension called
t'fattening."
Oystermen find that the oysters 'tfat-
ten" much. more quickly in fresh than
IN brackish water, quite naturally.
Warmth, too is so favorable to the
process that it is sometimes found
Pro6tGole to slightly heat the water in
whteA the oysters are Aoated. Although
py4oers are generally honted Gin the
s,;:ell the same effect IS very commonly
obtained by adding fresh. water to the
oysters after they have been sshucked."
oysters lose much of their salty flavor
in floating, of course, and it is chiefly
on that account that the specimens one
eats are so 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.
Good fat oysters generally yield Eve
quarts of solid meat TO, the bushel, but
after floating two tides or more In O
hide riVeg they will measure six quarts
u b,isheh. Finally they are taken from
the shells, If they are to be shipped in
thai way, aud when the liquor is all
strained off they are washed in cold
fresh water and packed for market. In
warm weather they are put into the
water with ice, -
In q Pepor0 soon 10 De issued by the
United States fish commission on this
subject it is. stated that an average
quart OF oysters contains about the
same quantity of nutritive substance as
aquart OF milk. or, a ponnd of very lean
beef or one and. half pounds. of fresh
Goldfish 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 relative. proportions Of nutrients,
aud the food values of equal weights of
milk md oysters are pretty paRrlv the
same. Be-, IT, ....