South Jersey Summer

The annual migration to the shore

A bag of freshly harvested oysters from Cape May Salt Oyster Farm

We weren’t long in PA before we felt the tidal pull to the beach. Migratory beings, we met on the beach in Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island in 1959 and we have gone back nearly every year, staying in Stone Harbor, where John’s sister had a house.  We were lucky enough to use it before the season got into full swing, so that was our spot, on 103^rd Street. Nowadays we rent from a wonderful woman who has a “Cozy Beach House” on 117^th Street, next to the bird sanctuary and down the street from the American Legion where the Flag Day ceremonies are a big slice of Americana.

My brother Geoff and his wife Barbra met us the first night, arriving with crabcakes from Maryland. At the beach, a mostly pescatarian diet is de rigueur, with an occasional BLT or Lee’s Hoagie. We keep up our strength to play in the sand.

The next day Barbra and I headed out early to track down some local seafood and the best source for that is Matthew’s Seafood Market in Cape May Court House. It was John’s birthday, so a special menu was in order: scallops, clams, and oysters. All locally sourced from the cold Atlantic waters that we came to play in. And all available at Matthew’s, where owner Tom Matthew, a former fisherman and scallop harvester, treats the seafood with serious respect.

Sauteed scallops, baked Cape May Salt oysters, and a “stuffie” and a Clam Casino from Matthew’s Seafood Market in Cape May Court House

Cape May Salts were the first place-specific New Jersey oyster that I met through Stewart Tweed, an aquaculturist with Rutgers, who promoted the variety twenty years ago when I met him by chance next to an oyster bed in the Delaware Bay. The industry has come a long way since that day. I signed up for a tour of the Cape May Salt Oyster Farm with Melissa Harabedian, a 9-and-a-half-year veteran of the operation who has seen a lot of changes. Unfortunately, Mother Nature said no to the tour, with a raging thunder and lightning storm, but Melissa still showed me the oyster beds and explained how the leased farms extend into the bay. And she gave me a bag with a dozen Cape May Salts and an oyster knife to hone my skill.

Oyster beds extend from the coastline into Delaware Bay near Rio Grande, NJ

Matthew’s is primarily a seafood market and take-out store, but on Fridays and Saturdays, there is a raw bar out on the porch and a couple of salty musicians who entertained the diners who slurped flights of oysters as quickly as they could be opened. There were 6 local varieties of oysters available and they varied in size and flavor—some saltier, some with more mineral notes. All delicious. We followed the oyster sampling with a steaming pile of mussels in white wine and crispy fried calamari.

I baked the dozen Cape May Salts the next day, in a hot oven, just until they popped. I prefer the texture and flavor to a raw oyster; it is firmer and creamier, but that’s just me. Eat them any way you like. Just eat them and support this growing South Jersey oyster farm industry and the farmers responsible for a healthy Delaware Bay.