Abalones are regarded as the rarest and most prized shellfish in the world. Almost extinct due to overfishing, they are now becoming available again due to the success of specific breeding farms such as the one belonging to Sylvain Huchette (France Haliotis) which we recently visited on the L'Aber Wrac'h bay of northern Brittany. The hatchery deals with the selection and breeding of the baby abalones which after nine months are removed to fresh deep cold waters about 500 metres off shore. There in this mineral rich non polluted waters these gastropods will take up to five years to grow before they are lifted and harvested for some of the finest dining restaurants of France and all over the world.
What makes Sylvain's sea farm so special is that he has retained natural food sources for his baby abalones who dine on healthy seaweed and micro algae which is sustainably grown on the sea farm.
When they reach 1cm, they are placed back in their cool native waters of L'Aber Wrac'h in special cages and fed on the rich seaweed like red dulse. Today France Haliotis is the European leader supplying eggs and expertise to new farms in Ireland, Denmark and Spain. France Haliotis is the first certified organic abalone farm in the world.
We arrived after lunch and were warmly received by Sylvain and his colleagues. A detailed tour of the sea farm followed by a tasting of the abalone cooked on a simple pan by Sylvain himself. There are many ways to cook abalone but seared on a hot pan with Breton butter is hard to beat! The abalone tasted delicious - nothing like what we had bought in a supermarket a few years earlier. This was so fresh and tender and tasted of scallop crossed with foie gras! No wonder the Michelin chefs of the world are regular customers to Sylvain's door.
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