The Renaisance Of The Oyster
As a child fishing and fishermen always fascinated me and one of the first fishermen I encountered was Teddy Harris down at Percuil. At the end of the beach at Percuil was a small shed, which housed the local branch of the Duchy of Cornwall Oyster Farm and Teddy worked on the fishery cleaning and relaying young oysters.
I was learning to sail and generally messing about in boats during the summer months down at Percuil and watching Teddy handle a boat was an education for a young enthusiastic amateur. Seamanship is acquired over years via experience and practice and making the simple tasks like rowing look simple and effortless.
Oysters were unknown to me and I never actually tried to eat one until a sailing trip to France aged 15 and in the company of three younger children who would eat all the gastronomic minefields on offer over the Channel. My diet of fish fingers and beans was soon replaced by frog’s legs, snails and of course oysters.
If these three precocious brats would tackle French cuisine with gusto then I would not flinch and equally take on the challenges on offer after all I was 15 and seriously cool.
That 4-week holiday literally changed my diet and made my mum’s task of cooking tea a lot easier than it had been prior to the trip abroad. I confess that not all the food sampled became standard items on my daily menu thereafter notably frogs’ legs but I did become slightly more adventurous in my outlook and was definitely easier to feed when out and about.
As I grew older I became more aware of the importance of Oysters around the Carrick Roads and the fact that at one time it was the staple food for a large proportion of the population. In the 18th century millions of oysters were consumed in the UK and oyster beds were an important asset for landowners with oyster poaching a criminal offence.
The Helford Oyster beds came into the ownership of the Vyvyan family and in 1829 the upper reaches of the river were leased to a certain John Tyacke and the rent included a clause that twice weekly 100 oysters were to be delivered to Trelowarren House throughout the year.
Given the vast quantities of oysters being consumed it was obvious that stocks around the coast could not survive and gradually the industry declined and the price of oysters rose. Until the advent of the railway and refrigeration the industry in Cornwall stagnated but crucially survived.
Ownership of the oyster beds passed over to the Duchy of Cornwall with activities centred on the Helford River at Port Navas. The “Original Helford Oysterage and Fishing Company†operated the beds from 1910 and the Duchy Oyster Farm was built in 1948 to pack and clean oysters.
When I first met Teddy Harris in the early 60’s the ownership of the oyster beds had passed to Macfisheries but a seemingly terminal decline had set in. Relaying oysters is a costly business with high fatalities and with dwindling stocks the beds on the Percuil River fell into disuse.
The Helford beds survived in no small part to the Hodges family who have been involved in the fishery for decades first as Oyster Bailiffs and then as employees of Macfisheries.
Leonard Hodges subsequently acquired the lease and ran the business for many years before handing over to his son Lindsey. The family involvement ceased after nearly 40 years in 2005 when the lease was sold to Ben Wright of Wright Brothers.
Wright Bros is owned by ex City lawyer Ben and his brother-in-law Robin Hancock a former record producer who has worked in the past with the likes of Madonna and Billy Idol.
The pair originally started business in 2002 as a result of Ben’s friendship with Jerome Miet one of the largest producers of oysters in France. France produces around 2 billion oysters annually and Jerome Miet produces around 10 million alone that equates to the entire production in the UK.
After a day on the Marennes Oleron in SW France fishing for oysters with Miet, Wright decided to rekindle the demand for oysters in the UK.
Given their background in London high society the pair aimed to supply the best restaurants and cafes in London and it worked with clients now including Bentley’s Oyster Bar, Scott’s, The Ivy, J Sheekey, the Rivington, The Wolseley, Automat, The Ebury, Racine and the Bibendum.
Starting with Marennes Oleron oysters the Company has branched out and in a refreshing change are importing razor clams, winkles, and whelks from Boulogne and mussels from La Rochelle.
The oysters from Marennes Oleron are grown in the sea for 3 years and then transferred to claires, clay bottomed lakes where without tides and with less salt, they are left to fatten. Quality varies with time and different grades are imported with the superior grades left in the claires for a longer time.
Indeed the Company has a stock of the “pousse en claireâ€, which are fattened for 6 months and spaced at 3 per square metre. Traditionally these plump little beauties “the Kobe beef of oysters†have been reserved for the producers and their families.
The success of the business encouraged the team to branch out into the restaurant game themselves and Wright Bros Oyster & Porter House in Borough Market soon opened to general acclaim from critics and public alike.
Seafood predominates and is sourced world wide but with particular emphasis on UK seafood from the finest locations. Cornwall is well represented with Helford crab and of course Helford oysters.
The restaurant stocks over 24 different types of oysters including British Columbia, Humbolt Bay, Kumamoto, Tsarskaya, West Mersea, Carlingford Loch and Papillon with pride of place going to Helford.
Given Ben Wright’s experiences with the French oyster industry there will be a major benefits to the Duchy Oyster Farm and already the company has invested in a new oyster barge, cages and racks with an upgrade of shore side facilities to improve product handling and quality.
An Objective One grant was obtained to help with these improvements and together with help from the Truro Oyster Fishery Management set up in 2003 the future is looking very rosy for the Ostrea edulis or Native oyster.
A trip last year to the Slow Food conference in Terra Madre in Italy by TOFMG with support from South West Rural Enterprise Gateway and Cornwall County Council put the spotlight firmly on the Helford and Fal oyster industry.
The Native oyster found down here is regarded by many gourmets as the best in the UK and the renaissance it has undergone over the last few years is staggering and no small part due to the Wright Bros, the TOFMG and of course the annual Oyster Festival.
Today of all days it is appropriate to praise their efforts and forgo the red roses and the champagne and just buy a dozen of Helford’s finest.
2 Comments for this post
Hello Andy, A very interesting post. But do you think you could change the type colour? Grey on black is almost impossible to read, I had to copy it into Word in order to do so. All the best, Mike Davies
That’s much better! Many thanks.
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