The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-02-21
TRAITS OF THE OYSTER.
This shellhsh Gets Green on Plant
Food, Fattens in Fr%h Water and
Is ms Nutritious ms MIX.

then the oysters set before them are
more or less green in color There is u
common prejudice against q green
oyster. Some persons attribute the col
oring to disease and others 10 parasites
or to the presence OF copper. Scen-
tific investigation has demonstrated
that this 'greening" Of oysters is in
reality due to the fact that the oysters
have fed on green plants of simple
structure, which are sometimes found
in abundance in brackish or salt water.
c. +. Langworthy, of the Office of expe-
riment stations of the United States de-
partment of agriculture, in n bulletin
on Fish as Food" says that, in the
opinion of those who have investigated
the matter carefully, the green color in
oysters is harmless. In Europe green
oysters are more highly priced than
Others. The green color may be re-
moved by placing the oysters for time
in water where the green plants are not
abundant.
1t is common practice of oyster
dealers, instead of selling the oysters
in the condition in which they are
taken from the beds in salt water, TO
place them for a period of about As
hours in fresh water, in order to fatten
them. The oystermen call this opera
tion floating or laying out" The
process gives the oyster plumpness and
rotundty, its bulk and weight being so
increased as to materially enhance its
selling value The belief is common
among oystermen that this "fattening"
is due TO actual gain of flesh and fat,
and that the nutritive value of the
oyster is increased by the process.
Oysters lose much of their salty flavor
in floating" however, and il is an es-
tablished fact that if the "fatteneo
oysters are left too long on the floats
they become lean again. Careful expe-
riments have shown that oysters taken
out of the natural beds in salt water
and placed in fresh water actually gain
in weight. This is due largely TO the
fact that they lose mineral weight and
gain a considerable amount of water.
But there is an accompanying loss of
nutrients. When in their natural con-
dition oysters contain from one-eighth
10 one-hfth more nutritiye material
than when faitened.
Ii is interesting to note that the gov
ernment's experiments, conducted at
the New Jersey stations, thus far have
shown that oysters freshened by float
ing" will not remain alive as long as
those taken directly from salt water.
Freshening really reduces the life
period Of an oyster one-half. In the
opinion of many consumers, the i'm
proyement in appearance and flavor of
an oyster due to.the dilution of the
salts more than compensates for the
loss in nutritiye value. Prof. Lang
worthy remarks: often flavor has a
value which cannot be estimated in
dollars and cents"
Oysters come nearer TO milk than al
most any other common food material,
as regards both the amounts and the
relative proportions of nutrients. Gen
orally speaking, quart of oysters con-
taiIls on au average about the same
quantity Of actual nutritiye substances
as a quart of milk, or threefourths of
pound of beef, two pounds Of fresh cod
fish, or one pound OF bread. The nutri-
tive substance of an oyster contains
considerable protein, the substance
whose principal function is to make or
repair blood, muscle, tendon, bone,
brain and other nitrogenous matter
Apparently as the oyster grows older
at least up to certain time, not only
do the proportions of flesh and liquids
increase more rapidly than the shells,
but the proportion OF nutrients in the
edible part increases also. For illustra-
tion, 100 pounds of young oysters in the
shell appear to contain less of flesh and
Of liquids than 100 pounds of older ones,
and when both have been shucked, a
pound of meat from the shells of the
older oyster would contain more nutri-
ment than pound from the younger.
Investigation has shown that, con-
sidering the edible portion Of the oyster
after it has been removed from the
she'll, the differences in different speci-
mems are much greater than is COM
monty supposed. This is clearly ap-
parent when a comparison is made of
either the flesh or liquor of different
specimens, or the whole edible portion
of the meats and liquor together. The
percentage of water in the edible por-
ton OF different specimens of oysters
which were analyzed for the United
States fish commission varied from
about SO to 81 per cent, and averaged
81 per cent. In other words, the nutri-