For my entire life, The Blue Point Oyster was a slice of Long Island folklore, like bigfoot or the loch ness monster. Many once saw it but could never give evidence of its existence. Our great, great grandfathers were pictured in black and white photos holding up a freshly caught bushel brimming with mollusks. Or an old home built near the turn of the century would have shards of bleached shells near the driveways, once used to make a hard surface for cars to park. But unlike the mystery monster of the sea the pearl making shellfish was indeed once abundant and plentiful.
According to a few sources, namely The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, by Mark Kurlansky, Joseph Avery was the first to flood the Great South Bay with oysters. He served in the war of 1812 near Chesapeake Bay and came back with seeds (baby oysters!) to hatch in our saltwater bay. The popularity of the succulent shellfish grew and without regulation in place, the original beds began to diminish. Mix in a few major hurricanes in the 1930’s (one, in which, created the Moriches inlet) and a growing population of Long Island residents which gave way to polluted runoff and the original “Blue Point Oyster” became a varietal from Long Island Sound.
But that begs the question: Are blue point oysters a specific type of breed? “That’s what people think, but the truth is, they’re all one species. It’s all marketing” says Keenan Boyle, a Sayville native who is looking to change the way we understand oysters. Now, farmers can lease land from the Town Of Islip near Captree Island and grow their own. And with more oysters, comes cleaner water. One oyster can filter 30 gallons of water per day. “There’s twenty five leases available and I just received the last two spots”. Boyle says proudly. “It’s a two acre parcel. I’m not sure what I’ll call them yet- Tall Mother Shucker feels a bit long” he laughs. (Keenan is a towering six foot seven inches.)
He’s referring to his company, Tall Mother Shucker, where the tagline is eat, educate, farm, shuck. Currently, he buys from the already established farmers from the Captree area and sells (and shucks) to clients for private events, such as weddings. He speaks at lectures at local libraries and colleges like St. Josephs, and consults with several restaurants, like the Blue Point Brewery, on their raw bar programs. Oysters take about 18 months to grow to selling size, so in less than two years’ time he will be selling his very own.
Boyle came into oysters when he was a kid. He started working for a wholesaler, waking up around 3 am and making deliveries into the city. His penchant for the oysters grew, along with a distaste for the early call time, so he switched gears to the restaurant and farming side. “I’m an outdoors type of person, so the farming side appealed to me”, said Boyle.
The love affair has grown deeper than just the bivalve itself. The ‘merrior’ (the oyster industry’s term for terrior) is directly correlated with the quality of the water, so proper environmental and sustainable practices are imperative. At the end of September of this year, the Blue Point Brewery and Boyle will be hosting the second annual Oyster Ball. Boyle explained that along with the 22,000 oysters to snack on, you can also learn about the importance of oysters at Schuck University- or Schuck U; talks and lectures by environmentalists like Save the Great South Bay, Billion Oyster Project, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, among others. Ten percent of sales are donated to a variety of clean water initiatives.
Boyle has a lot in store in 2020. Maybe you’ll see him shucking oysters at your friend’s wedding, or playing at the Casino with his band Soundswell. Eventually he’ll be out in the shallow waters tending to his very own. The future of oysters lies quite literally in Boyle’s hands. He and the farmers at Captree are revitalizing the Blue Point Oyster, taking it back from folklore and moving it back on our plates.
“People want to know exactly where their food comes from. We are the few farmers that can actually say we have a genuine Blue Point Oyster.”
