OYSTER PERSERVATIVE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 18

OYSTER PERSERVATIVE .

Oyster preservative is a question of moment to the increasing trade of the Foveaux Straits. Auckland bas hitherto been " self-supplying " out of its rockoyster beds. Although good in quality the quantity of these oysters has been_ meagre, and even in the best of times it is known that the Stewart Island mud-oyster commanded ft ready market in Now, however, the rock-oyster has so far diminished that it has been put under "close season" for an' indefinite period. More than ever the supply of the Auckland market becomes a question of importance to" these great ' southern fisheries. , The difficulty to overcome is the preservation of the freshness and flavour of the oysters while they are being conveyed to Auckland. A southern correspondent sends the following ' extract from the , Pacific Fisherman of date December. 1907. which he seems to think may assist in solving the diffkmlty :— "The Orientals are great users of old Sol's power for drying meat and fish without iat*- : bu~ where the Chinese

excel is in oyster-curing. You would think thera. would be little in an oyster after it had undergone the sun-desiccating process; but some of the Chinese oysters are about half the size of a goose egg, even when dried. This is how the Chinaman proceeds : He chooses the biggest fresh oysters and puts them in tanks of corn-farina and water — a mess the consistency of watery paste. They are left there for a couple of days 'to fatten,' as he expresses it. They are then opened and placed on split bamboo trays in early morning to withstand the sun's rays. By early afternoon the drying process is complete ; the oyster is sun-tanned a dingy brown, and is often shiny with its own natural oil, which the sun has forced to the surface. Once dried the oysters are always cleanly to handle, and can be carried in the bare pecket and placed in the mouth one by one when travelling. The saliva soon sufficiently moistens them to allow of their being masticated. This is a virtue peculiar to the oyster. That is all the ' cooking ' they need or get from tho Oriental. They are satisfying and of good taste, but not very nutritious. Now, the only American method of preserving oysters is "by tinnine. Who has ever yet come across a satisfactory tinned oyster? It has a washed-out, insipid, denaturalised taste, and is of an uninviting dryncs.3 that makes one use as few tinned oysters as possible."