It won’t be long before the official start of summer; the season of buttered corn, barbecue, lemonade, and chilled, sweet tea. If you grew up not too far from the coast or from an amusement park, there’s also a good chance that you have happy memories of eating salt water taffy on vacation.

Also known as pull candy, basic saltwater taffy usually is made of a combination of sugar, corn syrup, water, and some kind of flavoring. Oddly enough, there’s no saltwater in the taffy itself, although some recent recipes do include a little salt.

According to Wikipedia’s Page about the origins of saltwater taffy which they trace to the boardwalk of Atlantic City, New Jersey:

“The most popular story, although probably apocryphal, concerns a candy-store owner, Mr. David Bradley, whose shop was flooded during a major storm in 1883. His entire stock of taffy was soaked with salty Atlantic Ocean water. When a young girl asked if he had any taffy for sale, he is said to have sarcastically offered her some ’salt water taffy.’ The girl was delighted, she bought the candy and proudly walked down to the beach to show her friends. Mr. Bradley’s mother was in the back and heard the exchange. She loved the name and so Salt Water Taffy was born.”

A year later, former glassblower and fish monger James Fralinger started selling salt water taffy in his Atlantic City store. Eventually he came up with the idea to sell salt water taffy as a souvenir by packing it in the same one pound oyster boxes he had used during his fish merchant days. This idea was so successful that the company still sells one pound boxes of the taffy, nearly 125 years later.

Commercial salt water taffy is now most often made by machine, but originally was entirely handmade.

According to the folks at Shriver’s in Ocean City, NJ:

“To pull the taffy one would use a large hook. The hooks would hold the taffy while the “puller” would stretch, twist and pull the taffy to the right consistency. Then, each piece would be cut to fit the paper and wrapped… all by hand. Today, the machines used can pull in excess of 100 pounds and wrap approx 300-400 pieces per minute.”

To get an appreciation of how much work used to be involved making this simple treat, About.Com: Candy has a great page which gives step-by-step instructions for pulling your own taffy.

Here’s a video that shows some of the process used today in making saltwater taffy commercially:

If you’re a fan of salt water taffy, you may also have grown up eating Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy when you weren’t able to get the salt water kind.

More of a nougat than a taffy, Bonomo’s hasn’t been available since 1989, but over at Slashfood, they compare Old Time Candy’s French Chew favorably with the vanished Bonomo “taffy”.

Here’s to simple summertime pleasures!

We’ve gotten a great suggestion in response to yesterday’s blog post, Exotic Ice Creams for the Sun Ravaged Soul that we had to share. The reader suggests making the nifty ice serving bowls described on Polybore to showcase some of the delicious exotic ice creams you make.

Ever wonder where top chefs like Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Keller, and Tom Colicchio like to go on vacation, area restaurants they can’t resist, what their guilty culinary pleasures are on the road, and more?

Then you’ll enjoy this series of interesting pieces from Fodors which features 14 top chefs including Alice Waters, Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Keller, Tom, Colicchio, Ming Tsai, Suvir Saran, Lidia Bastianich, Govind Armstrong, Michelle Bernstein, Gavin Kaysen, Bobby Flay, and Suzanne Goin, sharing their favorite foodie meccas (excerpts below):

Anthony Bourdain on New York:

“What do we do in New York better than anyone else in the world?’ The answer to that question is deli…It’s the food that I miss when I’m away, no matter how well I’m eating. Even in places with fantastic food — Singapore, Hong Kong — the food that I miss first is deli.”

(You can read more from Anthony Bourdain on the subject here.)

Thomas Keller on the Napa Valley:

“When I think of lunch in Napa, I think of something quick that’s kind of comforting. And one of the places I like is Taylor’s Refresher. They have great hamburgers and fish tacos and you can sit outside in the beautiful weather because they have a big lawn right behind it. One of the things about Napa Valley, which is so unique, is that all of our restaurants are really good…People come to Napa Valley primarily to eat and drink, so we have great wine and great restaurants.”

(You can read more from Thomas Keller on the subject here.)

Tom Colicchio on Charleston, SC:

“What’s great about the South is that the idea of hospitality is second-nature. One of my favorites in Charleston is Hominy Grill. It is just the epitome of Southern casual dining. Breakfast, lunch, dinner — every single meal is just wonderful. Usually when I go to Charleston, I go right from the plane to Hominy Grill. I try to get there for breakfast — they do shrimp and grits and different egg dishes. Whatever they serve is usually seasonal, wonderful, delicious. Last time I was there I had shad roe and scrambled eggs for breakfast…

For me, going to South Carolina, it’s not so much about the beaches, it’s about the marshes. It’s just wonderful to get a kayak and go through the marshes. You see everything from redfish to alligators to dolphins. It’s amazing — the amount of birds and wildlife…

There are so many little fish shacks around Charleston. There’s a little place called Bowen’s Island, an oyster grill where you sit at a picnic table, and the guy comes by with a shovel full of oysters that come off the grill and just puts [them] on the table on top of newspaper and they’re kind of steamed open from the grill — and that’s it. You dip them in butter and that’s all they serve…”

(You can read more from Tom Colicchio on the subject here.)

Also, you can see photos of Bowen’s Island on our FlickR Photoset here as well as read the full series of top chef interviews here.

Looking for a a very simple and homey recipe you can whip up in 30 minutes or less? Try making this recipe for Oyster Croquettes or Fritters from the folks at About.Com: Southern Food.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
2 cups flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oysters, drained and chopped

How to Make Oyster Croquettes or Fritters
See More of Hugging the Coast’s Fish For Friday Recipes

There is nothing quite like an oyster roast. Standing elbow to elbow with fellow oyster lovers we await the bounty about to be served; oyster knives at the ready, shucking gloves tucked in our belts, bowls of crimson hot sauce scattered across the rough-hewn tables.

A popular coastal tradition, the best oyster roasts are both sacred and informal celebrations of the natural flavors of the sea that ideally take place not far from the waters from which the oysters were taken.

If you’d like to hold your own oyster roast, you’ll have to order several bushels of oysters from your local seafood supplier, but it’s much better to harvest them yourself if you’re lucky to live in an area with an abundance of oysters. There’s a nice article here about the finer points of gathering oysters and running a traditional oyster roast.

If you prefer to grill your oysters instead, Coastal Living has some good tips and recipes here.

According to Charlestonlowcountry.com, oysters are an excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, and D. Four or five medium size oysters supply the recommended daily allowance of iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and manganese. Charlestonlowcountry.com also has some nice in-home recipes here.

After you’ve held your roast, don’t forget to recycle your oyster shells so that they can be used to form new oyster beds for the next generation of oysters. South Carolina residents can recycle their oyster shells at various DNR oyster shell recycling locations. North Carolina also has an excellent oyster shell recycling program.

(Here’s a photo we took of an oyster bed vista in McClellanville, SC.)

Also, below is a taste of a few of the many photos we took at Pethelpers’ 2008 Sucking It Up to Save Lives Oyster Roast at Bowen’s Island in Charleston, SC. The event raised over $13,000 to benefit the new no-kill animal shelter.

While we were at the oyster roast, we were fortunate enough to come across something small and hard in one of our oysters…a pearl!

Alas, unlike Florida’s George and Leslie Brock who were lucky enough to come across a really valuable purple oyster while eating our Apalachicola Selects, our “Pethelper Pearl” is small and rough textured; a rare specimen mainly remarkable for its extremely high sentimental (if not financial) value.

By the way, if you’re curious about how oysters make pearls, click here.

Courtesy of Travel Industry Wire.Com:

A recent Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) study, showed that 58% of all American leisure travellers say they are somewhat/very interested in taking a trip to engage in culinary or wine-related activities.

With this in mind, editors of the website Travelocity say they scoured the globe to highlight unique foodie finds.

Due to its access to top-notch chefs and fresh ingredients, Charleston, SC made the list

Travelocity’s 10 Delicious Destinations for Foodies: (in alphabetical order)

• Barcelona, Spain

This Spanish city started getting recognition just within the last five years. Catalan influences dominate both the culture and cuisine with French and Mediterranean inspired dishes more prevalent than traditional Spanish fare. Catalan cuisine features a unique combination of ingredients such as red meat and fish; poultry and fruit; and pork sausage with white beans. Each dish is unique, original and utterly impossible to put down.

• Boulder, Colorado

It’s no secret that Boulder is about as eco-friendly and earthy as it gets, but what may come as a surprise is how the recent addition of urban dwellers has led to a more sophisticated and trend-setting approach to organic dining. Take The Kitchen Café for example, which offers an eclectic menu with superior organic ingredients, but moreover, is completely green-they even compost all of the kitchen scraps and use wind power. On top of this green approach, Boulderites have access to some of the country’s finest boutique ingredients, such as hormone-free Colorado lamb, local cheeses, and even organic microbrews.

• Charleston, South Carolina

Some may call it soul food, but in Charleston they call it Low Country cuisine. Prevailing as the undisputed local favorite, this culinary specialty infuses restaurant menus with dishes such as Frogmore Stew, She-Crab Soup and Hoppin’ John. Rice, grits and fresh, local produce play an integral role in the creation of these truly Southern meals, and the waters that surround South Carolina’s Low Country inspire local cooks more often than not with seafood dishes found on just about every menu.

• Las Vegas, Nevada

In the spirit of Liberace, Vegas’ recent restaurant boom is completely over the top-and we mean that in the best possible way. If you want your foie gras topped with shaved truffles and dusted with gold, it’s a sure bet it can be found here. Top chefs from NYC, Paris, and London are opening namesake outposts in hotels and casinos with much fanfare, so keep an eye out for Emeril, Thomas Keller, and Bobby Flay. Fortunately for our wallets, Vegas’ famous buffets are still a beloved part of life on The Strip.

• London, United Kingdom

London is shaking its reputation for having mediocre cuisine (we think it was undeserved anyway!). Celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey have built on the English penchant for exquisite service and fine surroundings, and have made the current restaurant scene world famous. All the while, specialty gourmet shops have continued operations for nearly 300 years, as in the case of Fortnum & Mason, known for its fine teas, and Paxton & Whitfield, cheesemonger to the royal family. Choose from afternoon tea, Indian curries, and classic pub fare, like shepherd’s pie-then wash it down with a black and tan before hitting the museums.

• Montreal, Quebec

Known ubiquitously for its French cuisine, the Montreal culinary scene also boasts imaginative carte du jours from more than 80 countries. Dine at one of the city’s 5,000 restaurants, or spend the day meandering through local markets in search of the same culinary treasures used by Montreal chefs. While there, sample a Montreal-style bagel topped with cream cheese or a smoked meat sandwich, two local treats.

• New Orleans, Louisiana

Many first time visitors head to New Orleans to experience events such as Mardi Gras or JazzFest, but they return time and time again for its food. NOLA’s most famous restaurants include Emeril’s, Commander’s Palace and Antoine’s, but local favorites such as Jacques-Imos and Port of Call deserve a spot on the map of culinary treasures as well. Cajun and Creole dishes throughout the city tempt the taste buds, and no visit to Crescent City is complete without indulging in a beignet dusted with powdered sugar and a cup of café au lait laced with chicory at Café Du Monde.

• New York, New York

Cabbies and billionaires alike clamor for the city’s famous slices, pretzels with mustard, and roasted chestnuts in paper bags, but beyond streetfood, NYC boasts more restaurants per capita than any other American city. Whether one is looking for a neighborhood Italian joint or sweeping views of Central Park at Per Se, there’s something for everyone. The city is also home to some of the best foodie souvenir shops around, including DiPalo’s homemade mozzarella, the Doughnut Plant’s pistachio glazed version, and Vintage’s Long Island wines.

• Rome, Italy

Dining in this Italian capital is an experience that’s arguably just as pleasurable as seeing the sites the city has to offer and surprisingly, finding the best fare is as easy as pie. While Northern Italy is famous for its pesto and truffles, Tuscany for its olive oil and beans, Sicily for its sweets, and the south for its seafood and spice, Roman cuisine boasts all of this and more. From home-style Italian cooking in charming trattorias to innovative fare in designer restaurants, the old streets of Rome will have you savoring la dolce vita.

• San Francisco, California

Alice Waters is credited with changing the way Americans eat, and now her local, seasonal approach to cuisine is now an integral part of San Francisco’s venerable restaurant scene. With Wine Country vintages at hand, Bodega Bay oysters on the half-shell, and Northern California’s bounty, visitors are able to try ingredients they wouldn’t have access to at home. As if that weren’t enough, the City by the Bay is a hotbed for artisanal products, such as Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam cheese, McEvoy Ranch olive oil, and Scharfenberger chocolates, all of which can be found at the foodie mecca known as the Ferry Building.

Attention hot sauce junkies…

Big congratulations are in order for the members of Charleston’s own Ladies Philoptochos Society, whose local community cookbook, Popular Greek Recipes was recently inducted in the Walter S. McIlhenny Hall of Fame as part of the 18th annual Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards after selling 100,000 copies!

The first edition of the recently updated cookbook was published in 1957.

Invented in 1868 by Edmund McIlhenny, Tabasco is a versatile Louisiana hot sauce that is a popular ingredient in many recipes and drinks. (Click here to see a list of nearly 700 drinks that feature Tabasco sauce from iDrink.Com.)

Three miles from the Gulf Coast, deep in Cajun country, the company home is a 2,500-acre dome of solid rock salt, formed when ancient seabeds evaporated, according to a recent MSNBC article. Annual sales of the spicy condiment are tallied at approximately $250 million.

According to Wikipedia’s Tabasco sauce page:

“Until recently, all of the peppers were grown on Avery Island. While a small portion of the crop is still grown on the island, the bulk of the crop is now grown in Central and South America, where the weather and the availability of more farmland allow a more predictable and larger year-round supply of peppers. This also helps to ensure the supply of peppers should something happen to the crop at a particular location. All of the seeds are still grown on Avery Island.

Following company tradition, the peppers are hand picked by workers. To tell their ripeness, peppers are checked with a little red stick, or ‘le petit bâton rouge’ that each worker carries around. Those peppers not matching the color of the stick are not harvested. Harvested peppers are shipped back to the Island factory. Peppers are ground into mash, and salt and vinegar are added. The mixture is put into old white oak whiskey barrels from distilleries to age for up to three years. The bright red mash is so corrosive that forklifts are reported to last only six years.”

Also, via the Hot Sauce Blog, here’s a good article from the New York Times about the McIlhenny Company’s plan to retool after Hurricane Rita when it was inches away from being lost in the storm.

(Illustration Credit: The illustration above which celebrates the joys of Tabasco and oysters is by New Orleans artist Ron Picou. We have are lucky to have a signed and numbered copy of it hanging in our mobile kitchen.)

Long considered a delicacy in Japan for their purported aphrodisiac qualities, the red sea urchin is a popular fixture on the menus of many British Columbia sushi restaurants. Sea urchins both red and the more common green are also used in Italian and Greek cuisine.

According to BC Seafood Online, the porcupine-like red sea urchins are still harvested by hand the traditional way using stainless steel rakes to pick the urchins from the rocks or via deep sea diving. However, on the East Coast, trawlers are often used.

Here’s a great photo blog that shows more information about urchin harvesting.

Chow.Com states that the red sea urchin is found throughout northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Red, green, and purple sea urchins are harvested on the American Pacific coast. Green sea urchins are commercially harvested on the American Atlantic coast. The largest American producers are California for red urchins and Maine for green urchins. Peak season for red urchins is October to May; peak season for green urchins is November to March.Fresh urchin roe and whole urchin are available year round with a peak period of September to April. Urchin roe is also available frozen year round, especially in Asian supermarkets.

A few sea urchin recipes…

Oyster and Sea Urchin Stew

Salmon Fillet with Sea Urchin Risotto

Spaghetti With Sea Urchin Roe, Lemon and Field Balm

Sea Urchin Bruschetta

Baked Sea Urchin With Sea Urchin Butter

A letter to the editor by Frank Blum, executive director of the S.C. Seafood Alliance raises some interesting points about a state truth-in-advertising bill (H3028) that if passed, would make illegal for restaurants to market the seafood on their menus as local while substituting higher profit margin imported fish in its place.

Published in Anderson, SC’s Independent Mail, he makes the point that just about everyone benefits from the passage of this bill; restaurants benefit from the freshness that can only be obtained by selling truly local seafood, the fishing industry benefits when it can fairly compete with imported seafood, and diners benefit because they can have confidence that they are getting exactly the fish they ordered.

The SC Seafood Alliance website states that more than 200 varieties of fish and shellfish are native to South Carolina and approximately 30 of them are used in the kitchen. According to Blum, passage of House Bill H3028 will, “tend to level the playing field for imports vs. local and after a few offenders are caught and exposed in the media, others will be reluctant to lie to their customers.”

Learn by watching: John Bil shows you how to shuck an oyster below.

Or, if you prefer, check out Chow.com’s handy written tutorial.

After the jump, are the lyrics to Seafood Mama, a fun retro song celebrating the joys of seafood from The Andrews Sisters, courtesy of Lyrics007.Com. (If you want to hear the song, just check out our new Southern Coastal Life MP3 Playlist…it’s the 6th song from the top.)
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• Shrimp and Hearts of Palm Salad (from Cooks.Com)

• Corn, Crab, and Roasted Red Pepper Soup (from CDKitchen.Com)

• Savannah Red Rice (from Recipezaar.Com)

• Southern Oyster Casserole (from FamilyOven.Com)

• Cajun Snapper and Shrimp over Bacon Cheddar Cheese Grits with Red Pepper Coulis (from The Food Network)

• Hummingbird Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting (From About.Com: Southern Food)

• Red Velvet Cake With Raspberries and Blueberries (from Epicurious)

Enjoy the Holiday!

A barefoot chef from Asheville, North Carolina won the Oyster Shucking Competition in Charleston, South Carolina’s 25th Annual Lowcountry Oyster Festival.

Named one of the top 20 events in the Southeast by the Southeastern Tourism Society, two tractor-trailers filled with 65,000 pounds of oysters rolled onto the grounds at Boone Hall Plantation to kick off the festival.

Winner Tres Hundertmark, chef/owner of The Lobster Trap of Asheville, NC, shucked an average of one raw oyster every 2.6 seconds.

“I had just placed in a shucking competition in Connecticut,” Hundertmark commented. “So I felt I would at least rank in the top 5.” But even Hundertmark didn’t expect to take 1st place.

The Oyster Shucking Competition entailed opening as many raw oysters as possible in 3 minutes. Hundertmark blasted the opposition away with an amazing 69 oysters in 3 minutes. (That’s 1 oyster every 2.6 seconds, beating the five-time champ by 5 oysters.)

Located in downtown Asheville, NC at 35 Patton Avenue, Tres Hundertmark has cooked for such restaurants as the House of Blues in New Orleans, Louisiana, Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, the Chanticleer on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and at the track at Kentucky’s Churchill Downs.

February’s Free Cookbook Preview…

Been to Google Books lately? Google Books has been gradually placing the full text of thousands of books online, many of them free full previews of culinary books that are either out-of-print or have been added online with the permission of their publishers.

One of the latter gems we’ve recently stumbled upon is the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Cookbook, a 144 page compendium of interesting recipes, photographs, and related stories edited by Susan Pollack.

You can read the whole book on Google Books here then buy it from Amazon.Com when you’re ready to purchase the book.

A freelance writer for Sierra and the Boston Globe, Susan is on the staff of National Fisherman.

The award winning outdoor sportsman magazine Field and Stream, recently named the Charleston Jetties one of the best fishing spots in the Southern United States.

Considered by the magazine to be the third best fishing spots in SC, the Santee-Cooper Area took first place in the state, with the Lake Russell Area listed in second place.

Here’s the full list of notable fishing spots in the South after the jump…

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