About the Project

Resting at anchor off Savannah, the shrimper Daddy’s Boy is one of several owned by Mike Dubberly and his family. They’ve been out since morning, when they lowered the nets and caught a portion of what will be an annual take of 150,000 pounds, estimates sister Linda Dubberly Whiddon. And they will stay out 10 to 12 days.

On board are Mike’s daughter Nicole, a marketing graduate of Georgia Southern University; his son Michael; and the family pooch, Diego. The business was started in the 1970s by parents Frank and Jean Dubberly, and Mike and his brother Jeff, also a boat captain, started shrimping back in high school.

As they haul the catch on board, they freeze the shrimp in a saline solution. They carefully monitor salinity by using a device invented at the University of Texas, because too much or too little salt is deleterious to the quality of the shrimp. Governed by FDA regulation, the Dubberly team is a member of Georgia Organics. As required by law, the nets are equipped with turtle extruders, or TEDs, which allow anything greater than four inches to escape. BRDs, or Bycatch Reduction Devices, allow smaller fin fish to escape as well.

The business, which Linda is in the process of rebranding as Sweet Savannah Shrimp, does an annual take that is typically sold frozen, although one boat is rigged to handle fresh shrimp for customers who only accept never-frozen products. The shrimp are not treated chemically, but, cautions Linda, some processors may treat shrimp with chemicals designed to swell their size and weight. When the cooking process releases water, suddenly the shrimp are much reduced in size, so it’s important to trust your source—and ask questions.

On board Daddy’s Boy, Nicole does the cooking. “Fried,” answers her father when asked how he likes shrimp best. But she prepares other dishes such as crabmeat-stuffed, bacon-wrapped shrimp or shrimp and rice.

“Fried” also answers Denis Murphy, owner and skipper of The Blarney, a shrimp boat based out of Sunbury, near Savannah. Murphy shrimps not only in Georgia, but also in South Carolina, and specializes in supplying fresh-only shrimp to area restaurants.

“White shrimp is probably the tastiest of all shrimp caught globally,” he asserts without a trace of exaggeration in his voice. It’s just a fact as far as he’s concerned. His shrimp are packed on ice, without any preservatives or chemicals.

Murphy supplies Holton’s Seafood Restaurant in Midway, off Interstate 95 (exit 76). Holton’s shrimp sandwich is piled high with very lightly battered fried shrimp, which are so tasty you’ll skip the bread just to savor the tender, perfectly fried morsels. He also supplies the Sunbury Crab Co. in Sunbury, where a platter of fried seafood (including shrimp, of course) enjoyed on the back porch as the sun goes down over the marshes is as splendid an experience as one can have.

While many of these small, family-run shrimping companies are relatively new, some go back into the 19th century. Ambos Seafoods, in one form or another, has been “around in the seafood industry since 1870,” says Drew Ambos. Based in Thunderbolt, a fishing community outside of Savannah, Drew, his brother Hal and father Louis represent the fourth and fifth generations active in the business.

“The birth of breaded shrimp was through my grandfather and a company called Trade Winds, that today is Sea-Pak,” says Drew. St. Simons-based Sea-Pak, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, also has a wild shrimp line, and Drew speaks most respectfully of its quality-control systems and requirements.

“A wild-caught product can’t be modified,” he says, adding that as a seasonal product, it’s at the mercy of Mother Nature. The demand is for 16 to 20 count shrimp, he says, up to 21 to 30 count. “We typically sell that fresh and frozen,” he notes. “We know we’re catching them now (early June), but we may not see that size again until early fall.”

As the water temperature drops, so will the size of the shrimp. The nurturing they seek, says Drew, is found in warm water, although he cautions that too-warm water can foster disease. Thus the season may close around January, and shrimp have moved far offshore, making it too costly to pursue them for the smaller sizes that will be available, although those also are delectably sweet and lovely for salads.

This June’s early “landings,” as the harvest is called, were weaker than expected in the mornings, but picked up a bit in the afternoons, Drew says. Early in the season, the shrimp will have roe in them, an orange streak that parallels the sand vein. Some advocate leaving this in place, finding that it adds another flavor dimension.

As the white shrimp (Penaeus setiferus) disappear, brown shrimp, a different species (Penaeus aztecus), will replace them. The latter constitute about 20 percent of the Georgia catch, with the balance being mostly the white shrimp. More rarely, one may see pink shrimp (Penaeus duorarum) off Georgia’s coast.

And how does Drew, a fifth-generation shrimper, like his shrimp? He goes for sauteing them in olive oil and garlic. But if he could duplicate his dad’s fried shrimp, he would do them that way.

Hal and Drew Ambos, owners of Ambos Seafoods. Photo by Jane F. Garvey

As Drew points out, Mother Nature can make shrimping a tough business with erratic results. That’s why shrimper Captain Larry Credle has begun to bring into shrimping the lessons learned from agritourism. Call it aquatourism perhaps? A two-hour ride aboard his shrimp boat, the Lady Jane, costs $40 per passanger and provides up to 49 people with a glimpse at how the shrimp business works. Guests may help the crew sort the shrimp catch from the other fish and shellfish in the nets, and enjoy boiled shrimp prepared by the crew. In season, the cruises run Wednesdays-Sundays. For information, see www.shrimpcruise.com.

Georgia’s white shrimp appear not only on numerous menus, from Atlanta to South Georgia, but also across the country.  Folks who live far from Georgia’s coast may have to go to extra lengths to find wild-caught shrimp in local markets, but by actively pursuing them with your local grocer, you’ll likely get a response—and a product to enjoy.

—Jane F. Garvey is a food, wine and travel writer based in Decatur.

Read the original article from Georgia Magazine here.

Health consciousness triggers switch to more natural ingredients

By Lauren Kramer
April 01, 2008

With the trend toward better health, consumers are increasingly inspecting the ingredient lists and nutritional facts on seafood products. This health focus has led to change in the breading and battering of seafood, from a modification of the coating constituents to the removal of trans fat from the coating systems.

“There’s a demand for the use of more natural ingredients,” says Paul Ludtke, director of R&D for coatings at Kerry Ingredients in Beloit, Wis. “What we’re doing is trying to get rid of any ingredients with chemical sounding names and replacing them with ingredients that are natural or would be commonly found in their kitchen cupboard.

“Ingredients that are more than minimally processed are removed and replaced with natural or minimally processed ingredients,” he adds. “For example, modified food starch is replaced with corn starch; artificial colors and flavors are replaced with natural ingredients that achieve the same function.”

Kerry Foods supplies batters and breading to many major seafood processors. In an attempt to differentiate themselves, several processors have developed products that are encrusted with ingredients that are different from the traditional wheat- and corn-based coating systems. Such ingredients, found in both retail and foodservice, include tortilla chip pieces, coconut, potato pieces, nuts and soy nuts, dehydrated vegetables and whole grains such as oats.

“The trend toward healthy products has led us to try to do more breading and battering without the fat that comes with it,” says Ludtke. “We’re working on technologies to make that possible, but it’s still a work in progress.”

The entire breading and battering industry is moving in that direction, according to Art Christianson, VP of operations at High Liner Foods USA in Portsmouth, N.H.

“We’ve developed more un-battered and un-breaded products, and our sauced and glazed products are growing faster than the breaded and battered,” he says. “But for those that are breaded and battered, we’ve switched cooking oils to get away from trans fat.”

While the switch to trans fat-free oils has not increased sales, “it’s probably resulted in lost sales avoidance,” says Christianson. “The schools to which we sell are looking at salt and fat content when they source their products.”

Like Kerry Ingredients, High Liner has also seen a trend toward more natural ingredients in the breading and battering components.

“With one customer, we switched to a multigrain breading that has been very well received by the public, and we’ve reduced a lot of the salt content,” says Christianson. “But it’s still difficult to get an all-natural ingredient deck.”

High Liner’s shift to the use of a spraying technology rather than typical batter applicators has resulted in a more consistent breading process that “allows you to use some of the more advanced ingredients that restrict or reduce oil intake,” adds Christianson.

Despite the switch to all-natural flavorings, Christianson believes breaded and battered fish will continue to hold their own in the marketplace.

“Their basic flavors deliver a product that tastes very good, and people enjoy them,” he says. “The issue is the health aspects and obesity. I see the industry reshaping the breading and battering process to the extent that in the future, they won’t be as calorie-heavy as they are today.”

Good Harbor Fillet in Gloucester, Mass., has distinguished itself as a leader in this respect with its development of NutraPure™, a protein system that blocks the absorption of cooking oil and prevents the escape of moisture in the frying process.

“We’ve been able to reduce the fat in our par-fried products by 50 to 60 percent since our first commercial product run in 2004, without compromising the quality,” says Bill Stride, company president. “Everyone is trying to improve the nutritionals in their product, but I don’t know anyone who’s come up with anything close to ours. We’re the only ones to bring a highly reduced fat, par-fried product to the market.”

Good Harbor has focused its sales of this product to specific markets like the national school lunch program and the military. The company has also started to work with more natural coating systems that contain fewer invasive ingredients like bleached wheat flour and monosodium glutamate, replacing the latter with malic acid, and the former with unbleached white flour.

“That’s been well received,” says Stride. “It’s allowing us to market the items as more natural and healthy, and since our emphasis is on improving the quality of ingredients, we’ve seen sales increase, particularly in products we’re targeting to the health market.”

Good Harbor has entered into a licensing agreement with Weight Watchers to develop a line of reduced-fat, par-fried seafood products under the Weight Watchers brand this year.

“That’s going to raise the visibility of our technology significantly,” predicts Stride. “With obesity issues being what they are today, you can’t ignore fried foods that have 60 percent less fat while maintaining the quality and integrity of the product.”

Stride says NutraPure™ will become the standard for Good Harbor product packed under its Healthy Catch™ brand and will be present in the majority of its other branded products, too, in the future. “It’s hard to imagine this process not being adopted across all product lines, and ultimately across all proteins,” he says.

Alimentario Adin in Italy is another company that has created a healthier product through its non-frying batter. Working in collaboration with the Institute of Agriculture & Food Technology in Valencia, Spain, the company has patented a non-frying batter called Adinmix that contains methyl cellulose. The latter helps to lock out the fat during the final cooking process adopted by the consumer, resulting in battered food without the fat intake.

Icelandic USA also has focused on removing trans fat from its coating systems. There has been a demand for ovenable versus fried products in retail, says Ron Basch, the company’s VP of technical services.

“Converting to ovenable systems versus products intended for frying has meant ingredient modifications to give the product more crunch and color,” says Basch. “I don’t see fried products disappearing from the marketplace, but ovenable ones are becoming more popular.”

The consumer focus on health has affected many seafood companies, and Ambos Seafood, a distributor of shrimp, conch and crab products in Savannah, Ga., is no exception. Since 1998, Drew Ambos, the company’s VP and CFO, has seen the demand for breaded

shrimp shrink with every passing year.

“In the past, we did mostly breaded shrimp, but every year the demand for marinated shrimp has increased until today it constitutes 80 percent of our business,” says Ambos.

Ambos Seafood goes back 150 years to Ambos’ grandfather, Henry F. Ambos, who created a method to bread and freeze fantail shrimp. His company, Trade Winds, became America’s first to market and widely distribute frozen, pan-ready shrimp.

“In the beginning the decreasing popularity of breaded shrimp severely affected our profitability, because shrimp constitutes 60 percent of our business,” says Ambos. “But we put more money into marketing our marinated shrimp and other non-breaded products, and we were able to create other sales pockets with our customers.”

Twenty percent of Ambos’ breaded shrimp is produced in China because of the high cost of hand breading in the United States.

“It’s cheaper in China as the raw material is already there,” explains Ambos. “By contrast, marinated or sautéed shrimp is much more cost effective and can be done locally.”

Last year the company switched to trans fat-free oil, launching a marketing campaign to increase consumer awareness thereof.

“I’ve not seen the success we were hoping to see,” he says. “Nothing has picked up in sales, but before we come out with a conclusion we’ll give this another year or so.”

However, it’s clear that Americans are increasingly health conscious, and a company’s failure to re-evaluate the nutritional content of its breaded and battered seafood products may give the competition an edge.

Contributing Editor Lauren Kramer lives in British 
Columbia

Read original article from Seafood Business here.

Oyster prices already rising, with variety of fish expected to follow

Posted: May 5, 2010 – 12:19am  |  Updated: May 5, 2010 – 4:21pm
By Adam Van Brimmer

The Gulf of Mexico oil slick is headed for your favorite seafood place at about the same pace as it is the Gulf coastline.

Slowly yet gradually.

Wholesalers and restaurateurs have already seen a jump in oyster prices and predict shrimp and certain Gulf-specific fish such as amberjack, Spanish mackerel and mullet could soon follow. The cost of shucked oyster meat jumped 10 percent on Friday, and half-shell oysters were up 9 percent on Tuesday from the week before.

“We’ll see some price changes because it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a fishery down there for some time,” said Drew Ambos, co-owner of Ambos Seafoods, a local wholesaler. “We’re trying to buy now to protect our customers, and we’re not the only ones out there thinking that way.”

Federal authorities began closing oil-affected portions of the Gulf of Mexico to commercial fishing on Sunday. The closure area boundary reaches from the southeastern tip of Louisiana to the waters off Florida’s Pensacola Bay.

Gulf waters produce 40 percent of the fish harvested in the continental United States, according to National Fisheries Institute statistics. Yet the abundance of imported seafood – which accounts for 80 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. – should prevent prices from soaring, said Ray Clark of Live Oak Restaurant Group, which includes local seafood haunts Tubby’s, Fiddlers and River House Seafood.

“The product is inferior,” Clark said of the imports, particularly shrimp. “But there’s plenty of it.”

Live Oak buys only domestic shrimp and purchases a year’s worth each winter during the season, Clark said. He won’t shop for shrimp again until late fall, by which time the Gulf will – presumably – be open again. Market price for shrimp rose approximately 10 cents Tuesday.

The oil slick has prompted local shrimpers to be prepared for high demand this season, which opens in a few weeks.

“It could go a couple of different directions,” said Nicole Dubberly of Dubberly’s Seafood and Sweet Savannah Shrimp. “It’s a hurry-up-and-wait situation.”

Oyster-lovers will be those most impacted by the closures in the Gulf, Ambos said. Savannah gets 75 percent of its oysters from the region, although demand is heaviest in the fall and winter and drops off significantly each June.

“If this happened in September or November, it would be crazy,” Ambos said.

Oyster producers from other areas, including the Chesapeake Bay, have inquired about providing oysters locally. Savannah wholesalers and restaurants also get oysters from local beds as well as those in Bluffton, S.C. and in North Carolina.

Prices on other items in the seafood case could also creep up as consumers buy substitutes for products in short supply, Live Oak’s Clark said.

“None of it is good,” he said. “It all depends on how bad it’s going to get down there.”

Read the original article from Savannah Now here.

September brought rain to Georgia and lots of it! At first, people were excited. Our lakes and rivers were replenished and our gardens and farms were happy, but then it kept raining… and raining… and raining. Georgia suffered severe flooding, which caused damage to people’s homes, cars, businesses and even families. Among those affected by these horrific floods was a group of small farmers who lost their crops, structures, equipment, precious topsoil and livestock.

The Whole Foods Market stores in Georgia knew we had to do something – these farmers are our friends and an integral part of our local food community. All seven Atlanta stores rallied together to hold a Metro-Wide 5% Community Day on Wednesday, October 21st, to benefit the Georgia Flooded Farms Relief Fund in partnership with Slow Food Atlanta and Georgia Organics!

Three stores also held parking lot farmers’ markets where over 30 unaffected local farmers and food artisans sold directly to consumers and donated a percentage of their sales to the Relief Fund as well. Here is just a small sampling of the great folks who joined us: Will Harris from Harris Family Heritage Farms, Nicolas Donck from Crystal Organic Farm, and Hal and Drew Ambos from Ambos Seafood!

Wednesday was a huge success and raised a grand total of $23,939! Our National Produce Office also contributed a gift of $500!

Our stores are also holding a Donate-Your-Dime campaign for the entire month of October where you can choose to donate your $.10 reusable bag refund to the Georgia Flooded Farms Relief Fund. So far we have raised an additional $3,285 but we aren’t done yet. You can still take part: Donate-Your-Dime will continue until October 31st in all seven Atlanta locations.

Want to do more? Slow Food Atlanta has set up a page providing lots of information about the farmers and you can donate directly through their site to the Relief Fund. A huge thanks to all of our customers who have come through and helped these farmers in need.

Emily, a yankee-born converted southerner, joined Whole Foods Market in 2002. She devotes her free time to raising a daughter, and tending to a flock of 8 chickens and a backyard garden in the suburbs of Atlanta with her partner, Michael.

About Whole Foods Market

With food and other items that are free of pesticides, preservatives, sweeteners, and cruelty, Whole Foods Market knows more about guiltless eating and shopping than most retailers. The world’s #1 natural foods chain by far — now that it has acquired its main rival Wild Oats Markets — the company operates some 275 stores in the US, Canada, and the UK. The stores emphasize perishable products, which account for about two-thirds of sales. Whole Foods Market offers more than 2,300 items in four lines of private-label products (such as the premium Whole Foods line). Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980, Whole Foods Market pioneered the supermarket concept in natural and organic foods retailing.

More about Whole Foods Market

Read the original article here.

Sunday August 1, 2010

It was NON STOP major league intense culinary action in the RMHC today. Such passion and skill for a wonderful cause. We were all in awe and are very grateful to Head Chefs Jay Cantrell of NLAWS Produce and Chip Reed of Ambos Seafoods for an amazing demonstration of Culinary Art. Unlike all of our other Challenges, these Chefs had no advance clues about their secret ingredient. PERSIMMONS?! Wow. We are all duly impressed, Gentlemen. Hats off. (Steve–that was a good one.)
A Judges Call was as close as they come but at the end of the night the Chef of the House was deemed: Chef Jay Cantrell! Congrats to both teams for a wonderful night (with a very challenging secret ingredient!)

ON THE MENU: Presenting Positively Perky Persimmons, Pureed, Parmed & Pimientoed

Red Team: Chef Jay Cantrell, Chef Matt Hankey
Appetizer/Side Dish: Skillet Seared Jumbo Scallops over Watermelon Persimmon and Feta Salad topped with Honey Mint Vinaigrette
Main Course: Braised Beef Short Ribs with Persimmons over Parmesan and Roasted Garlic Grits topped with Fried Collard Greens
Dessert: Grilled Angel Food Cake with Whipped Mascarpone, Candied Persimmon and Sherry Vinegar Syrup

Yellow Team: Chef Chip Reed, Chef Jeff Rogers and Chef Jeff Crumpton
Appetizer/Side Dish: Persimmon and Pimiento Cheese Sliders with Chilled Potato Soup & Persimmon Puree
Main Course: Low Country Skewers Persimmon Corn Bread & Spicy Beurre Blanc
Dessert: Persimmon & Cherry Strudel

If you’ve been reading food lit lately or saw the movie Food, Inc., you’re aware of the environmental and healthful advantages of eating wild seafood from U.S. waters versus those farm-raised on the other side of the globe.  Naturally, Whole Foods Market, the world’s largest organic grocery store, has linked up with Savannah’s Ambos family of shrimpers to make sure we can get our fill of sweet Georgia shrimp.  The Ambos family has been bringing fresh seafood from Georgia’s coast to Southeastern tables for five generations.  Ambos shrimpers pack their haul on ice immediately and bring it back to the dock that day so Whole Foods Market customers can buy fresh, buy local, buy fast and buy with good conscience knowing that Ambos practices careful catch methods so no other sea creatures are harmed.  Pass the shrimp and watch the Ambos family video on the Whole Story blog.

Click here for a Whole Foods Market location near you.

Read more at Greenlife Atlanta.