The Washington herald., 1922-02-03
GREEN OYSTERS, |
FRENCH DELlCACY,
NOW IN AMERICA
Pigrnented ellis Mean
Fine Favored, Fat
BivaIves. 49,
FRIDAY. FEsRuARr q. Isz.

The oyster-ioving people Of wash
ington. Philadelphia. and other coast
cities have been enjoying during, the
past few weeks a delicacy OF witch
but few housewives have been EN-
tireiy aware. This is the green.
gilled oyster, widely famed N
France as the delicstely favored
Marennes oyster. There the bivsIte
Is cultivated in special 'cisires+ or
small ARTIFICIAL Underwater ponds an
which the oysters gills becous
bright green in color. There 4s a
great demand for such green-gfFs
az Msrennes and at many OF the
famous French watering places be-
cause OF their exquisite flavor ana
unusual 'fatness" As a result Of
this demand. the price paid for
green-gilled oysters is considerably
higher than that paid for normal
white" oysters ,. -
while the oyster farmer Of Ma.
rennes goes TO some trouble te rear
his oysters particularly to obtain
the green celebration Of the gilIs. the
American oyster farmers OF certain
parts Of the Chesapeake Bay and
North Carolina sound regions have
occasionally been granted bye ma
ture the privilege. generally much
against their Wills. OF rearing
green-gilled oysters when thew
would have been better satisfeJf
with the ordinary American white"
oyster. In fact, nature has.forced
the green-gilled oyster prdV 1ction.
The only objections the American
oyster culturists have. however. 60
the emersld-edged bivalve are the
facts that the American public dock
not know its qualities and that ma
ture does not bring about conditions
each year for it's regular natural
production. =.
The greening OF the breathing an
paratus of the oyster is caused Nv
vegetable pigment characteristics.
| apparently Of a single mIcroscopic
plant a diatom. The rate Of growth
and reproduction Of this particular
d!atom Is governed by very delicate
changes in the chemical constitution
I OF the sea water in which Il lives.
! The oyster inGests a large number
OF distoms Of many different spe-
cies in its normal feeding process.
/ having no special choice OF the
kinds IL eats. So when the partIcu-
lar dia<om whose pigment causes
the greening is very abundant. a.
naturally feeds freely on that also
The greening results directly
from the chemical attachment Of the
green pigment OF the minute plant
+ to the white blood cells. the leu.
coeytes- Of the oyster The ocp-
+ pound thus formed destroys the
value of the white blood cell which
becomes then a true waste product
of greenish color floating about On
I the blood OF the oyster The gflIs.
l in addition 20 serving as the
| lungs" Of the oyster. are 50 con-
structed that waste products are OK
creted through them. Il Is beczasx
| of this function therefore that~fhs
Eillss Of the oyster become grcen-,
The vegetable pigment Of the dia-
tom. not much different from chat
found in cabbage or spinach. has
/ attached itself to the blood cell, has
destroyed the cell as far as fits func-
tion is concerned. and the waste
compound so formed has been de-
posted in the gills awaiting fts-cv-
i erection. Green-gillcd oysters hold
/ alive for two weeks in water which
does not contain the d;stom in pues-
ton regain their normal white
appearance.
The Green-rilled bivalve is food
r luxury. no more harmful than fhe
lettuce. celery. cabbage. and spinach
found on the American table daily.
The pigment is Of a pure vegetable
nature and is not due to pollution
caused by metallic salts.