Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1912-03-15
SEA FOOD FAKES,
PcnuIar FalIacies About Shell and
Other Fish.
NO GENUINE LITTLE NECKS.

These Luscious CLAIMS Are a Thing OF
the Past, and Blue Point Oysters Are
Miahty Scarce, Yet You May Buy
Thorn Almost Everywhere.
Only about one person in a thou
sand who orders the luscious bivalve
known as the Blue Point really gets
the genuine article. The reasons for
this are simply. first, because very
few Blue Points are raised and. Sec
ondly, because the supply Is usually
marketed in November and December.
This brand of oyster takes its name
from being grown on beds in the vi
.cinity Of Blue Point, in Great South
bay. Long Island. The water there is
very shoal.
In consequence. when the bowling
winter nor'westers blow till they virtu-
ally empty the bay. any oysters on the
beds freeze To forestall the loss the
wise oyster tonger becomes active and
markets Blue Points in the fall. 1t Is
thus seen that the reason they are so
small is that they have had only one
summer in which to- grow. A full sized
oyster in that latitude REQUIRES two
or three years to mature. Neverthe-
less YOU can find Blue Points on
bills OF fare In Kansas City at almost
any time of year.
Every locality has its pet brand Of
oyster Boston has its Cape Gods,
New York it's Saddle Rocks. Philadel-
phia its Cape May Salts. Baltimore,
Washington and Norfolk their Lynn
havcns. Each place is willing to
wager that its particular bivalve Is the
most luscious in the world Not being
particularly averSe to starting trouble,
the writer wishes to state that, having
been horn in New Jersey oyster rails
ing community. reared near the most
famous oyster beds of New York and
having eaten molusks harvested along
every coast of the United States, he
would lay wager on the Bayou Cook
oyster. raised in the gulf Of Mexico,
for first place in the great oyster
sveeDstakes. and on the Maurice river
coves raised in Delaware bay for Sec
end mace. There IRE many who Will
arrea with me III this oyster rating.
As summer appro; hes Eersons VINO
have enjoyed their Blue Points unui
the advent of The r-leSS month OF May
will. with the same sang troid. order
half dozen Little Neck clans as pre-
lude to rajnSt. They get them-not.
The Little Neck clam is a thing of the
past He, the genuine. takes his name
from Little Neck bay. which lies just
where the East river joins Long Island
sound.
The title. therefore. is not derived
from any particular formation OF tue
CLAIMS anatomy. as most peope DelleVe'
CLANS. unlike oysters. cannot be culti-
waited on beds prepared for the pur-
nose. but are found in what are termed
natural beds. A number Of years ago
one Of these great natural beds was
discovered in Little Neck bay, the
products of which were Of the most
toothsome and tender variety. Ihe
find was immediately pounced upon py
clam rakers from far and near. anu
tbe reputation of the Little Neck was
made. Although it took only a 1e"
years 10 exhaust the supply. nearly
every clam from every bed in the coun-
try has since basked In the rehecteu
glory of that Little Neck harvest, ana
you can still buy genuine Llttie
Necks" in any sea food emporium from
Maine TO California.
There are many people who do not
know that hard shell crabs ana sou
shell crabs are identical. the only ols-
tinctiou being that the soft she'll crap
for which you pay about three times
as much as for the hard shell variety
is simply the crab caught immediately
after he has backed out of his old shell
and within two or three days or the
time when the skin that covers MS
body has had Il chance to harden INTO
the new shell. Soft shell crabs. ike
certain Irish products. can be eaten
skin and all" They can be frled ana
made very ralatable. whereas the crap
with his regular shell in place mas TO
be dug out Of his armor and eaten IN
fragments or served under the menu
titles .deviled crab" "crab fakes or
"crab salad"
The popular food finny members Oh
the fish family have as many inter-
esting characteristics as their shell
clad brethren. For instance. all the
hotels and restaurants that serve gen
nine" Blue Points and Little Necks
heretofore referred to also set fortn
with the same degree Of equanlmity
fllet of sole Ia Ii anything that sounus
palatablel. The proportion Of the gen
uine to the real article in the case Oh
this commodity = even less than WITH
the Blue Points.
The truth is that about ninety-nlne
times out Of Il hundred the chefs take
our old friend the plebeian honnder'
or fia!ish. and dress him up as d
Frepchr1ar. for real sole in this coun'
try must hp imported from Frencn
waters FloumderS are caught in great
quantities ali along the Atlantic coast
from New Jersey to Maine. Wherever
n1 other fish will bite you can always
le;cnd on h"nking number or the
cid reliable h2nnders.
The fact that Maine herring when
mite Young are canned and marketed
f,r s,rdines dCne ND i'm olive oil Is