To Keep Oysters Alive and Fatten

Keep the oysters in a tub, mouths upwards, and feed them with a broom.

From: Housekeeping in Old Virginia
Published: 1879
Yikes Scale: Iffy

Exactly as printed, 1879

Mix one pint of salt with thirty pints of water. Put the oysters in a tub that will not leak, with their mouths upwards and feed them with the above, by dipping in a broom and frequently passing over their mouths. It is said that they will fatten still more by mixing fine meal with the water.--Mrs. R--.

Housekeeping in Old Virginia, 1879. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

Perfectly safe, entirely charming, and not something to try. Oysters do filter-feed, and the principle is not mad; the execution is a tub of standing water in a Virginia kitchen.

Warm, still, unfiltered water is where oysters concentrate bacteria rather than shed it. Vibrio grows fastest in exactly these conditions.

Notes from the 21st century

Real oyster fattening existed. Commercial beds relocated oysters to less saline water to plump them. This is the domestic, broom-based version of a genuine practice.
The meal is the eyebrow-raiser. Fine meal in the water was thought to fatten them further. What it mostly does is foul the water.
Attributed, as much of the book is. Signed “Mrs. R—”. Housekeeping in Old Virginia was compiled from named contributors, and the attributions are half the pleasure.

Also in this book

Brandy Peaches — Five minutes in boiling lye to strip the fuzz, and blanched kernels added to the jar.
Calf's Head Pudding — Boil the head until the bones drop out, pick the meat fine, then lay the brains over the top and bake.
Pickled Cucumbers (Gallon vinegar) — Line the brass kettle with grape leaves and boil, to green the fruit.

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