Oysters on the table and shells in your glass : alternative drinks to try this holiday season12/18/2021 The winter holidays are fast approaching and well, if they haven’t already it’s likely that parties are taking over your life.. Yeap most likely eating and drinking are going to take centre stage… It may come as no surprise that oysters also make it to the christmas dinner table, especially in france where more than 100,000 tonnes of oysters served each year, a large portion of which makes it to the Christmas dinner table. And oysters are quite a ‘sustainable’ food, like other bivalves, requiring no input feeding and providing some ecosystem services like nutrient cycling alongside the provision of protein, This paper estimates that if 10% of the protein from beef consumption in the United States was replaced with protein from oysters, the GHG savings would be equivalent to 10.8 million fewer cars on the road... You can read 10 more facts about oysters on my older post here
Today I want to focus not only on the oysters as the food we are familiar with, but on the use of shell as by-product. We have already seen some common uses in another post , but I was a little bit 'shocked' when I found out about the possibility of using oyster shells to make beverages! Alcoholic ones too.. So I figure that there couldn't be a better time than the holiday season to share my findings with you: - Oyster Gin. I am surprised by the many brands selling 'oyster gin' , just google it and you will find a lot of types! How is it made? oyster shells are cold-macerated in neutral spirit and then distilled, then part of this distillate goes into the gin.. easy peasy, right? - Oyster infused Sherry Now, personally, i don't really see this going very well. But each to their own... and if you are curious there is a nice forum post on how to make it and tips for DIY at home, in case you were bored and wanted to experiment ;) - Oyster infused Bourbon Also this, you can do at home: According to WineMag : 'In large pot of water over high heat, bring 6–8 oyster shell halves to rolling boil. Boil for 5 minutes, drain, then transfer shells to clean container. Pour 1 cup of Bourbon over shells, and infuse for at least 6 hours' - Oyster Stouts if you are a beer fan, stouts made from oysters exist, made with either the whole oyster but also only with the shell part... you can find out more about here Have you tried any of these? Would you try any of these? Since oyters shells are made of calcium carbonate, and the process of calcification is thought as a CO2 removal (although some CO2 is also emitted, but overall the process tends to be a sink) - perhaps by drinking them we contribute to climate mitigation ;) Think of that next time you raise your glass, but remember to drink responsibly (and if you don't drink, don't worry , there are plenty of other ways to help the environment....)
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