338 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



Travelling is deleterious to oysters ; their taste be- 

 comes insipid ; they seem to sicken, and lose their plump- 

 ness, which ills increase the more they are exposed, when 

 opened. It were well, therefore, to remember that the 

 sooner oysters are eaten after being dredged, the better. 



It is also harmful to keep them too long packed in 

 ice. So far as regards oysters in bulk, or shelled oysters, 

 the following interesting paragraph from the "Detroit 

 Free Press," Jan. 25th, 1890., will prove instructive. 

 "A citizen thoroughly posted in regard to shell fish, says 

 that shelled oysters and clams loose much of their natural 

 flavour by being brought in direct contact with ice. 

 Dealers in bivalves will sometimes put as much as fifty 

 pounds of ice into a few gallons of oysters, weakening their 

 natural juice to a great extent, and destroying their flavor, 

 and at the same time greatly enhancing the profits of the 

 trade. As well might ice be placed in milk to keep it 

 fresh, or in ice cream, instead of outside of it. In most 

 cases oysters treated in that way are little if any better than 

 so many fresh water clams. It is just as easy to keep bulk 

 oysters and clams fresh and sweet, by placing ice around 

 the vessel containing them, as to place the ice in direct 

 contact with them, although the profits would not be so 

 great to the trade. In the latter case a great deal of what 

 is sold as oyster or clam juice is really melted ice. Bulk 

 oysters sprinkled with salt and kept in a cool place for a 

 few hours will be much improved in flavor and increased 

 in size." If this statement may be relied upon, it goes far 

 to prove that a like effect (but, of course, in a lesser degree) 

 must result to the unshelled oysters, from the ice in which 

 our Oyster Merchants are accustomed to pack them. A 

 probability which a reference to Mr. Hamilton's Letter, 

 from the "Lancet" of this year, will serve to strengthen. 



