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Tour of The Abalone Farm


Rebel Rose

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I recently had the pleasure of touring our local abalone farm. It was fascinating! I've wondered why restaurant portions are so small, when local oldtimers talk about abalone steaks and abalone burgers. Well, an abalone grows one inch a year for the first four years, and after that, it grows only about 1/4 of an inch a year. Since it's not commercially viable to keep them growing for thirty years, they are sold at 4 to 7 years of age.

In addition to the decimation of California abalone populations by overfishing, otters, and general depletion, the local farm had a horrendous time getting started. Listening to their manager tell the story, I didn't know whether to laugh or shake my head in pity. I apologize for not having pictures, but the visit was a surprise, and I didn't have my camera with me.

First, they tried growing the snails in open seawater pools at the base of the cliff. But an all-time low tide, combined with heavy rains, flooded the pools with fresh water. And so they all died.

Then, they built graduated boxes at the top of the cliff with seawater pumped up and over them. But in a heavy storm, the power went out and the generator overheated, and there was no way to keep the seawater moving and aerated. And so they died.

Then they put in a bank of six generators, all phased to come on at different times, and they pulse oxygen through the pumped water instead of running it continuously to preserve use of the generators. In the meantime, they built a clever kelpcutter from a crane taken from an old aircraft carrier, attached it to a fishing boat, and began harvesting bales of kelp from channel island kelp beds. But then a super-stormy autumn prevented the boat from going out, and tore apart the kelp beds. Although small, the snails are voracious feeders. Without fresh food, they all died.

So then they bought some old cement milk and wine tanks, filled them with seawater, and they drop the kelp bales into the tanks, which are nestled between a small bay and a hill, to keep the kelp fresh for long term storage. But then they were informed that you now need a permit to harvest kelp, and all the available permits were given to SoCal firms of one sort or another (who else needs kelp?) and they would have to wait six months. Without any kelp at all, the snails starved, and then they died.

Now, these snails happily live out their short four- to seven-year lives in bubbling boxes and containers of one type or another, and they are fed a diet of algae, kelp, and . . .

After considerable experimentation, the owners created their own cereal-and-seaweed feed. They extrude it into strings with a pasta machine, and bake it in the oven. It's lightweight and floats, just the way abalone like it.

I also learned Japanese customers prefer the smaller size abalone, and barbecue (sorry, grill) them in their shells. Live snails are couriered to Japan overnight, wrapped in wet seaweed.

The next time I order abalone, I am going to take tiny, tiny bites and savor every one.

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Mary Baker

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I remember well the saucer-sized abalone steaks and am profoundly sorry that they went into decline. The flavor is wonderful.

In the 70s one of my friends, a scuba diver with an "unlimited" permit, used to bring me a washtub full of abalone.

I cleaned, then froze them, cleaned and sandblasted the shells and sold them to an artisan button maker in Oxnard.

I still have two of the very large shells somewhere in my junk. They are so beautiful, with all the iridescent colors. I used to use them as serving dishes for crackers, etc.

I'm glad you reminded me of them. I'll have to get them out and start using them again.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I too, remember the big ol' abs my grandpa and uncle and dad used to go get at the coast and bring back to the backyard to prepare. I was also lucky enough several years ago to have some good friends who would dive for them and bring back their bounty and cook them up for a big group of us. Just lemon, garlic and butter....my most favorite food ever! I've never had the lab raised abs but I know they're growing them over by the Natural Energy Lab in Kona too, and my dad says they're pretty good. I wonder if they taste the same as the "wild caught" abs tho....gosh, talk about something you can only dream about :wacko:

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I wonder if they taste the same as the "wild caught" abs . . .  :wacko:

I never thought about that. Are they like salmon? Snails seem pretty placid. Happy, even. They don't seem to crave a lot of exercise, although they do have very strong, uh, foot muscles. Is there a podiatrist in the house? :blink:

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Mary Baker

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Boy, that does bring back memories. My uncle and cousins used to dive for abalone, way back when, and occasionally "treat" us with the meat. I can't say I liked it all that well; I remember it being very tough, but it may be they didn't know how to cook it and it may be my tastes weren't sophisticated enough. I was small then and preferred beefsteak to any other food in the world ... well, except perhaps for oranges and tangerines off the tree.

I haven't thought about how rare those shells must be now. I'm pretty sure I still have one lying around somewhere, and I'm just as sure that I let a bunch go years ago. If I can find one, I'll treasure it as a rarity. Thanks for the suggestion, andie.

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The meat isn't especially interesting tastewise nor texturally.

Chinese use it in banquet dishes mainly because of the cost.

IIRC, canned abalone costs about $30 each.

According to my dad, one can is used for every 2 dishes.

Herb aka "herbacidal"

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herbacidal, either you just don't like it, or you've never had it fresh and properly cooked! Either way, I'm dismayed. :sad:

For those of you who love abalone like I do, Hoppe's 901 in Cayucos and Windows on the Water in Morro Bay both make stellar ab app's. WW's is pounded out and served in a crunchy filigree pastry, just barely wrapped like lace around the meat.

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Mary Baker

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Abalone needs to be pounded pounded pounded! When it's done properly, it's as soft and tender as butter. I have been fortunate enough to have missed out on the tough, chewy abalone. And the flavor I think is lovely...creamy and sweet.

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I curse my childhood picky palate that I have never tasted abalone. My dad is an avid scuba diver and would frequently return from weekend trips with several, their large shells being close to a dinner plate in size. We had many in our yard as ad hoc decoration. Mom would pound the steaks (about saucer-sized), and I think she breaded them, but since, at the time, I thought that any fish other than Filet O' and Mrs. Paul's was "icky," I never tasted it. :sad:

"I just hate health food"--Julia Child

Jennifer Garner

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actually i like abalone cuz it's a luxury *LOL* but seriously i much prefer geoduck.

you gotta give that farmer credit for tenacity. If first you dont succeed you keep trying and trying and trying.

Do not expect INTJs to actually care about how you view them. They already know that they are arrogant bastards with a morbid sense of humor. Telling them the obvious accomplishes nothing.

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It is legal to take a certain amount of both black and green lipped abalone from Victorian (Australia) waters. Unfortunately, there is a large amount of poaching as well.

I knew somebody that studied them for their Ph.D., they developed a trick for making them tender. First catch you abalone, then turn it on its back, take a beer bottle (full), hit foot of abalone with beer bottle until it becomes floppy.

Taste and texture remined me of other slightly chewy, slightly sweet shellfish like razor clams and soft-shelled clams.

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Green Lipped Abs from King Island, near Tasmania, southern Australia, are like, woo hoo... big and tasty. Some restaurants, notably and Italian one, are serving it 4 ways. But they've priced themselves out of range.

A great way of doing live Abs, whatever coloured lips, is to make a light broth with chicken stock, flavored slightly with ginger and to make thin slices of the abs, to be dipped a'la fondue and popped into eager mouths for rapid consumption.

accompanying dipping sauce would be:

light soy (best you can get), chopped spring onion and coriander leaves, ginger strips, sesame oil, spoon of sugar, sliced chillies, topped with hot garlic infused oil (peanut oil).

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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  • 2 years later...

A nice article on how the abalone at this farm are raised and fed at NutraFoodies.

Although I'm not too sure I could deal with this part . . .

When you have a live abalone, immediately shuck it out of the shell . . . Trim the head, gills, and viscera.  . .  Place the knife forward of the point where the meat was attached to the shell, and cut at a 45 degree angle down and forward. Tenderize gently with a meat mallot. While alive, do a quick sauté in a hot skillet coated with either oil or butter, after you have dipped it with egg wash, or coated it with flour. If it is tough, it means it was not handled properly.

:shock: I guess I need to toughen up!

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Mary Baker

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Chinese use it in banquet dishes mainly because of the cost.

IIRC, canned abalone costs about $30 each.

According to my dad, one can is used for every 2 dishes.

I think the number of abalones in a dish used varies according to the size of the abalone. Sometimes (depending on the generosity of the person payingfor the meal), diners have one abalone per person. When abalone is served by itself (and not as an ingredient of a larger dish), each diner is provided with a knife & fork, along with the serving vessel in which the abalone awaits.

The Chinese (? I'm not sure if it's exclusively Chinese) way of sizing is thus: heads (of abalone; 1 abalone=1 head) per pound. Abalones served in restaurants are usually 3 or 4 heads big. Larger ones are 2 heads, but 1 head abalones are rarely (if ever) found on menus.

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Thank you for the insights. I too fondly remember abalone the size of a saucer, pounded on the rocks and grilled with butter & lemon on the beach on Catalina Island off the coast near Los Angeles. It was actually my first taste of seafood other than canned tuna. Of course this was almost 40 years ago!

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This all brings back memories of growing up on the Northern Californian coast. Yes, we got the really BIG guys back then, but the way we did it was very different.

NO scuba diving, wet suits or the like. Back then you studied the tide tables & waited for an exceptionally low tide. When one came you went to your favourite (usually secret) spot with your tire iron or crowbar dressed in your oldest jeans & sneakers. You then waded out amongst the rocks, slipping on the kelp all the while, and if you were lucky you spotted an abalone & prized him off of his rock before he could clamp down. Frozen, but happy you took your catch home to pound & sauté in butter.

I'm firmly convinced that the coming of wet suits & scuba diving were what killed off the abalone population. The native Americans & the sea otters & abalone had lived in harmony for a long time without any problem until the new technology spoiled things.

Last time I had abalone was in Japan & it was delicious, but cost a small fortune.

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