Georgia Magazine - September 2022 - 42

GEORGIA Cooks
By Hans Rueffert
Clamoring for
Georgia clams
T
here are places that defy description: impossibly tall
mountains that seem to pierce the sky; dunes
composed of innumerable grains of sand; and lakes so
vast that they feel like oceans.
I've witnessed many of these natural splendors, but none of
them connected with my soul quite like the marshlands of our
Georgia coast: the fields of waving Spartina grasses, dolphins
feeding in the estuarial rivers, egrets and herons spearing unsuspecting
fish-all under an impossibly blue sky. There simply
are no words that can do justice to that splendor or the feeling
that I get when I'm there.
I traveled to the Georgia coast while taping a cooking show
in 2009 for GPB called " Hans Cooks the South. " We visited
Darien, and I fell in love with the place, the people and, of
course, the seafood.
We were drawn to the Georgia coast for the shrimp and the
Blessing of the Fleet celebration in Darien that marks the beginning
of the shrimping season (April). Clams were not even on
our radar. But the more we got to know the local shrimpers, the
more the name Charlie Phillips popped up. So on our final day
of shooting, we drove a bit north of Darien to meet the region's
original clam farmer.
Phillips-or " Captain Charlie, " as he's affectionately
known-is the kind of
person you feel like you've
known for a lifetime, even
if you first shook hands
just five minutes earlier.
Born in Jesup, Phillips was
in seventh grade when
his family moved to
the coast.
After selling his
Chef Hans Rueffert
42 Georgia Magazine September 2022
ownership stake in a
Jesup feed mill business,
his father, Mike, bought a
boat and transplanted his
family to Townsend, just
across from Sapelo Island.
The Phillips Seafood Co.
grew from a one-boat
operation to a full-scale
family business, harvesting
and selling local fish,
shrimp and oysters.
Charlie Phillips took
to these
waters like
a duck to a
pond. Always
looking for an
excuse to be out on
the water, Phillips and his
friend Roger DeWitt would go out in the marsh to pick wild
clams, which, though plentiful, were never really harvested
commercially.
So when Phillips learned that the University of Georgia
Marine Extension was looking for folks to participate in a clean
aquaculture program that would bring sustainable clam
farming to the region, he immediately signed on.
The unique ecosystem around Sapelo Island and its
adjacent marshes are the perfect habitat for shellfish, and all
manner of sea life use these waters as something of a nursery for
their growing young. Filter feeders, such as clams and oysters,
take full advantage of this rich tidal broth, straining nutrients
out of the marsh silt, utilizing the calcium carbonate in the
seawater to grow their hard shells and producing their own
spawn, which in turn feed other animals.
Phillips turned an opportunity into an industry. He started
Sapelo Sea Farms in 1997, and he's never looked back.
" It's a lot of work! " he says of growing out and harvesting
clams. Tens of thousands of grain-sized " seed clams " are placed
in mesh bags and anchored into the marsh using iron rebar
rods. As those juvenile clams grow, they have to be sorted and
separated into larger bags and then returned to the murky silt at
low tide. There are multiple bag sizes with varying mesh, each
designed to keep predators out while giving the clams room to
develop and mature. The clams essentially are harvested and
replanted multiple times as the mollusks develop.
Is it worth all the hard work? Just ask Sapelo Sea Farms'
devoted customers, who pay to have these gems shipped as far
away as California, New York and Canada.
Learn more about Phillips and Georgia's clams at
sapeloseafarms.com-or, better yet, take a trip to Townsend
and see for yourself. You can enjoy the clams at local
restaurants such as The Fish Dock Bar & Grill, which sits
next door to Sapelo Sea Farms.
Hans Rueffert is a chef, author and gastric-cancer advocate
who has spent his entire life working with food. He serves as the
culinary ambassador at the Old Mulehouse restaurant in Jasper.
Learn more about clams by listening to his food-focused podcast,
" But I Digest, " at butidigestpodcast.com.
ELLA RUEFFERT
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http://www.butidigestpodcast.com
Georgia Magazine - September 2022

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