When I told my son we were going oystering, he said “Mom, my whole life you and dad have said there is only ONE food out there you don’t like, and that is oysters.” He is right. Jeremy and I tried oysters on our honeymoon years ago and didn’t like them at all. At that time they were steamed in the shell and we couldn’t handle the grit that came with chewing them. But they seemed too solid to just swallow. We decided then that we wouldn’t try those again.
Until a co-worker of Jeremy told us about a local spot here in Zeeland where you can gather your own oysters. There is a limit to how many you can take home, but if you find them along the shore, they are free for the taking. And Jeremy and I are all about free new adventures.
So I did some online research and found tips for oystering. I bought some work gloves, looked up the time of low tide during daylight, packed some containers to put oysters in, loaded up my husband and off we went on Saturday morning. The weather looks dark and daunting, but it was fairly warm and peaceful.
A New Adventure
We drove to the spot where Jeremy’s co-worker said oysters could be found. It is known as Het Sas, an area on the north side of the island where boats can enter the locks to come inland by canal. Het Sas is less than 10 minutes away by car. which is how we got out there on this day. But Jeremy and I have ridden our bikes out there too in the past. I can’t say it was busy out there, but there were definitely other people there with the same idea. And they look like they had done this before.
When we arrived, the tide wasn’t quite at it’s lowest, which is good timing for us. That means we have that much more time until the tide comes back in. A person needs to look for oysters at low tide, because when the water recedes the oysters are exposed. Otherwise they are covered by water.
Jeremy and I didn’t have rubber boots for wading, so we stayed along the shore and still found plenty of oysters. I read that you need to find ones the size of your palm, ones that are completely closed. Any shells slightly open or with a hole will contain a dead oyster. So we sifted through many shells and rocks with our eyes. Most oysters we found were loose and easily picked up, but also attached to other oysters. So it was common to pick up a bundle of 3 or 4 oysters attached to each other.
We tried to break the oysters apart when we could. And we also tried to break off any extra that we didn’t want to bring home, like rocks or empty shells. We would rather take back just the individual oysters so they take up less room in our containers and we can better keep track of how many we have. But breaking them apart proved to be difficult. They are as good as cemented together, and found we were breaking the shells of the oysters we wanted to keep. When the good shells get broken, you have to eat the oyster right away or it will go bad quickly. So we obliged with the eating. Below is a picture of the oyster in the shell and met just after ingesting. 🙂 I’m not going to pretend the picture is attractive, but this is real life folks. The raw, fresh oyster tastes VERY salty. Not much of any other flavor except maybe fishy sea water. Mostly just salt flavor.
Our Fellow Oysterers
Half the fun was watching the other people out there looking for oysters. They came with their large buckets, rain boots, gloves and tools for digging. Many waded out to small areas of still exposed land to look for oysters. Some even brought their dogs out to the small “islands”. There were adults and kids alike, and I could tell it was a tradition that some might call “gezellig”. It brought a warm fuzzy feeling that united them with the sea and with eachother, resulting in a meal to share. Can you tell by the pictures below when the tide was creeping back up? Some stayed out as long as they could, but eventually everyone was forced out of the water as it took over the area again.
And when everyone came back on shore, the real jollies began. They came back all smiles with their buckets of bounty, laughing and teasing their friends and family. You will see below that some groups even had champagne in hand and were drinking on the way back to the car. Why not celebrate success! Now that is a good time!
I think each person is legally allowed to take home 10 kilos, so a family of 5 could take home 50 kilos. I’m not sure what 10 kilos looks like. No one is allowed to sell the oysters. They may gather for personal use only.
Heading Home With The Goods
So Jeremy and I brought home our little tupperware containers of oysters and got to work shucking them. You need to find oysters that are sealed shut tightly to ensure they are fresh, but it is sooo difficult to open them! To open, you have to find the tiny slit where the two shells come together, pry a knife between the shells, and twist the knife to get the shells open. Jeremy was better at it than I was because he is naturally stronger. But I was able to shuck my fair share. It is a little dangerous, because you have to apply lots of pressure to get the knife in between the shells, and the knife can easily slip and slice a hand. A friend of ours needed stitches this week after an oyster shucking incident. We wore gloves, pointed the knives away from us, and tried to be as careful as possible. We escaped with no injuries. To make the job easier next time, we did order an oyster knife from Amazon. 🙂
After all the shucking, it seemed like we had not much left! We had had our fill of raw oysters, so I decided to make some oyster stew. I have heard some people in Iowa like to make this around Christmas time. I never dreamed I would ever make it myself. But here I was with all these fresh oysters, so “when in Rome…”. And I have to say, the stew was delicious. My pinterest recipe warned against over cooking them, so I was very careful not to do that. Over cooking makes the oysters tough and rubbery. But these turned out soft and wonderful. I would gladly make this soup again.
So there you have it, the Noords’ first Oystering experience. I had a fun time, but I think my husband loved it even more! We both want to do it again. And yes, after almost 30 years of saying we don’t like oysters, we now have to eat our words. The fresh oysters from Het Sas were very good. And even more special because we have a story to tell about how we harvested them.
Hi Jodi, I read your story and really enjoyed it! It was so interesting and fun to read. Thanks for sharing your experience about harvesting oysters in Zeeland!