Bluepoint Oysters: Then And Now - In A Half Shell

8 out of 10 Bluepoints Come From Here

There are several companies who produce and market "Bluepoint" oysters, but one dominates the game. Enter Norm Bloom & Son, arguably the largest oyster producer of the Northeast, claiming that they supply 8 out of 10 Bluepoints on the market. They helped popularize the Bluepoint in its early days. This three-generation family business has been working the Connecticut waters since the 1940's and have mastered growing oysters at scale. The image above isn't of live oysters, but rather, old oyster (and clam and mussel) shells that are being prepped for shelling. Roughly 150-170 thousand bushels* of shells are collected for this vital part of the process. Using JP (see top image, bottom right) as a reference point... he's about 6 feet tall... I estimated that this man-made midden is roughly 20 feet high and roughly 100 feet long. And this is just one of many. What's the deal with shelling? I will talk more about this later.

My first point of contact with this rather discrete and recluse company was through Jean Paul (aka JP) Vellotti, Bloom & Son's former sales & marketing director, professional photographer, and oyster enthusiast. Random story: in 2012 and unbeknownst to either of us at the time, I pledged support for JP's Kickstarter project that would attempt to upcycle one of our country's oldest working oyster boats (built in 1891), the Laurel, which once was a part of the Bloom fleet. Sadly the project never got fully funded, but some pieces of the Laurel will continue to live on in a form that will be officially made available next month! See teaser here. And here.

Now fast forward to one year ago. I got an email—excerpt pasted below—from JP inviting me out to learn more about Copps Island Oysters from Norm Bloom & Son. After some scheduling back and forth, we nailed down a date in early July when the crew would be shelling the oyster beds.

It might be a good chance to compare/contrast how traditional oyster growers like ourselves differ from seasonal aquaculture farms. For one thing, we are the only remaining "traditional" farm in the Northeast. Our bottom planted oysters start life as wild set which attaches to the dry shell we spread out during the summer. From there, it's a three to four year period of natural cultivation until it reaches market size.

Copps Island Oysters vs Blue Point Oysters

Simply put, Bluepoints are a commodity** and Copps Island Oysters is a trademarked brand. The oyster is more or less the same, but at least with a Copp Island, you know that it's coming from Bloom. With that, there is a certain level of consistency, quality control, and prestige. Copps Islands have been on the market for over two years now and I have seen them in place of "Bluepoints" now around 25% of the time in NYC. This move towards a "branded oyster" is one that many oyster growers and chefs have chosen to adopt over the last several years, but it isn't without controversy. We're probably living in an oyster brand bubble right now and I wouldn't be surprised to see "peak oyster marketing" in the near future. But I'll be the first to admit that a good name and storytelling does somehow influence my irrational sense of decision making. To take a page from the Most Interesting Man in the World: "I don't always eat Bluepoints, but when I do, I prefer Copps Islands." And this IS irrational because even if I just ordered some regular old Bluepoints, chances are that they would be from Bloom as well.