Start here with an image from within the oyster. Silky mantle fanning out to its edges. Or within the river. Opaque with algae in the August heat or crystal clear in deep winter. Each immersive and, while oysters are submerged filter-feeding in their underwater habitat, each composed in part of brine. An oyster is a mirror for its underwater world, its habitat. The natural brackish waters of the estuary, rich in salt from the ocean + algae, growing in the warm, shallow elbows, crooks, and bays. From within, it’s a whole different world. Substance. Surface. Salt. Movement. Marine. Merroir.
What is merroir (and what do I need to know about it)? In essence, ‘merroir’ is a play on the better-known term ‘terroir’ (in wine culture) which makes reference to the way place influences all attributes of growth and eventually flavor. They use the French for sea and land respectively. Merroir is a (relatively speaking) newer term still finding its footing in our contemporary shellfish culture. While the parallels (between terroir and merroir) range from obvious to subtle, superficial to profound, we’ll table that conversation for now. Instead, in this series, we’ll immerse ourselves in the fluid, rugged, salty, sweet, harsh, soft, dynamic, deep world of merroir.
In Maine, we tend to identify cultivated oysters based on the farm that raised them and the precise location of said farm. While there are no rules (again, no rules) as to how a farm names its oysters—or how many ‘varietals’ come from one farm—place has its thumb on the scale. Most heritage farms are in fact named simply for their locale—down to the precise bay or cove, or simply the waterbody—which offers easy access to our first and most important clue on merroir. Some varietals make reference to their growing or harvesting techniques, too. Because merroir is informed by both people and place, these are also valuable clues. For example, our own oysters—Jack Point Gems & Topsiders—give us hefty insight into key elements of merroir, the Jack Point Gems for their precise growing site and Topsiders for technique and the human input.
In this series, we’ll dive deep into the vast & at times unruly, watery sphere of merroir. Each week we’ll approach the term from a new angle, encountering key seafarming philosophy and techniques along the way, rambling along the shoreline, hearing from our Glidden team, going back to the books, and testing our theories through the science of shuck & slurp. Join us (this time of year, the water’s warm).
