The B.C. Shellfish Festival on June 17 and 18 in Comox, which includes a chowder contest, an oyster-shucking contest and an open-air Chef鈥檚 Dinner, is a great occasion to sample B.C. oysters and other shellfish, including clams, geoduck, sea cucumbers, mussels, urchins and other delicacies particular to Vancouver Island鈥檚 waters.
Eating an oyster from the waters around Vancouver Island is a way to taste the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean in a single bite.
Oysters owe much of their particular qualities 鈥� flavor, size, colour, shell shape 鈥� to the salinity level and depth of the water in which they are raised.
Interestingly, though each of the 12 varieties of oyster from Vancouver Island has its own very distinct qualities, they all originate from the same seed, further underlining the importance of water depth and salinity in their flavor profile.
Consider the Kusshi. Named after the Japanese word for 鈥渦ltimate鈥� or 鈥減recious,鈥� this perfect bivalve is now one of the most sought-after oysters in the world.
Raised by only one shellfish grower, Keith Reid of Stellar Bay Shellfish in the Comox Valley region, this small (just over five cm) oyster is raised in deep trays, and an aggressive tumbling process after harvest smoothes any frills off the unusually deep cup of its midnight-purple shell, making it easy to shuck without any breakage.
The taste? A perfect balance of ultra-clean brackishness and a fresh, almost floral flavor, with a meaty mouthfeel due to the slight stress tumbling.
Chef Robert Clark of Vancouver鈥檚 C Restaurant , a global reference point for shellfish cuisine, calls the Kusshi a 鈥渓ittle package of joyous oyster meat.鈥� Clark often includes the Kusshi and its larger version, the Stellar Bay Gold, on his restaurant鈥檚 prized tasting menus.
But as co-founder of the Vancouver Aquarium鈥檚 Ocean Wise program, Clark loves Kusshi and other Vancouver Island oysters for their sustainability as well as their unbeatable flavor.
鈥淲hat I love about B.C. shellfish is that they鈥檙e a very well-monitored food source. Every oyster I serve is tagged, so I know where, when and how it was grown. Each Kusshi came from Keith, I can be sure of that.鈥�
The B.C. Shellfish Growers Association has mapped out a tour of Vancouver Island鈥檚 12 oyster harvests, including five in close proximity to one another in gorgeous Comox Valley: The leases where Mac鈥檚 Beach, Fanny Bay, Kusshi, Komo Gway and Chef鈥檚 Creek oysters are harvested are within a few minutes鈥� drive from each other, and many, including Stellar Bay, offer tours for the public.
For details, visit bcshellfishfestival.ca.
鈥� BC Shellfish Festival
