Farmers’ Market:
Oyster farming in Aroostook County
When you think of oysters, what comes to mind? For beach babies, it is the briny scent of the sea, salty wind in the hair, and shells crunching underfoot while walking along a rocky beach. For foodies, it may be velvety raw oysters, elegantly served, sliding whole from a half-shell down the throat and chased by a delicate white wine. Harvest for an oysterman involves pulling a dragger back and forth across the ocean floor, while in aquaculture, oyster farmers dangle seeded ropes from floats in the middle of a bay. Few would associate oysters with Aroostook County, other than through a nice, thick oyster stew on a cold winter evening.
But Mushrooms, Herbs, Preserves, Inc., is changing all that. Co-owners Victor Helstrom and Linda Mansfield are ready, willing, and able to introduce you to the sensory pleasures of oyster mushrooms gracing your dinner plate. Apparently, 2010 is the Year of the Mushroom. New innoculant was introduced to fresh, sterile grain spawn earlier this summer and has made vigorous cultures. Linda excitedly reported in late July that they were “pinning,” a verb that made more sense when she referred to the fruiting bodies emerging from the innoculated grain spawn as “pinheads.” Tiny little cone-shaped masses, kind of like potato eyes in reverse, pop up here, there, and everywhere over the surface of the plastic bag containing substrate and vigorously growing mycelia. When the bags are exposed to light, warmth, and moisture, “They go CRAZY!” she says. The pinheads grow into something like a flattened, dimpley golf ball. Each dimple flesh outs out to a smooth, creamy disk, coming thick and fast to cover almost the entire surface of their container. You can’t help but be intrigued when you see them on the shelves in their growing facility.
As interesting as they are to look at, though, nothing prepares you for their amazing taste and texture, not found in any other species of mushroom. What this means for their customers at the Presque Isle Farmers Market at the Aroostook Centre Mall on Saturday mornings is that the time has come for them to “Go Crazy!” as well. No one used to bland, featureless button-type mushrooms “fresh” from the grocery store or slivered and trapped in a can, soused in salty water, is in any way prepared for the treat in store. Linda is happy to share ideas and recipes; she is free with business cards so your questions can be answered at any time. But most importantly, she and Victor have “oysters,” both fresh and dried, for you to take home and enjoy.
Editor’s note: This weekly column is written by members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market. For more information or to join, contact their secretary/treasurer Steve Miller of Westmanland at 896-5860 or via e-mail at beetree@xpressamerica.net.
