Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/395149
195 buttery middle section with mossy, grassy notes, and a nice sweet finish. "Duxbury Bay is the main driver of flavor," he continues. "It's a protected barrier beach ecosystem with very little fresh-water influence. The water is not brackish, there is an 11- to 12-foot tidal swing, and southwest winds regularly clear warm surface water out to sea. All of this creates very cold, very salty wa- ter," he notes. Every spring, Island Creek grows oyster seeds in its own hatchery, and these baby oysters, measuring only 2 millimeters first, are nurtured in "upwellers" (a contraption of the company's own design) before grad- uating to the "nursery," a series of cages and mesh bags that sit on the bay's bottom. Once the oysters are about 2 inches in length, they are planted directly on the sea floor. Usually, by August, 18 months after the seedlings first arrived, the crop is ready and the harvest begins. In comparison, owner Mark Begley's Beach Point Oysters mature off the ground in large hanging baskets. Their nursery is Barnstable Harbor, which is protected by the Cape's famous barrier Out to Sea Island Creek harvests oysters in Duxbury Bay.