The Best Abalones in Tasmania
Tasmania is renowned for high-quality abalone, particularly the Greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata) and Blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra). It produces 25% of the world’s abalone for food consumption! Chances are, if you are having an Australian Abalone, it is from here. Known as one of the 4 luxury food ingredients in Chinese cooking, they are highly valuable in Asia and expensive. I am very keen to learn and know more about these unique ingredients or shellfish from the ocean. Taking the opportunity of my time in Tasmania, I am very honoured to have the chance to visit Candy Abalones to learn more about them. Candy Abalones are one of the predominant producers of abalones and are famous for their dried abalones. The use of wild abalones from Tasmania, which are known for their quality! The greenlips abalones are also the best and are only found in certain areas in Northern Tasmania. I am sure that we are rather familiar with abalones and most of us will have them during occasions, but do you know how they come about from the ocean to your dining table? Let’s explore Candy Abalones together!
Candy Abalones
I was shown around by James, the second-generation owner of Candy Abalones. We started at the office and the drying facility. The company was started by his dad, and they have since grown to be the largest and one of the largest and most prominent dried abalones providers in Australia. Their Tasmania-based business exports abalones all over the world, with the biggest market in Asia. James is pretty special considering that he is a diver, producer and owner all in one! That is very rare! Obviously, he doesn’t do that for the operations these days.
James shared a lot about drying abalones and how they work with the Green Lips Abalones and the Black Lips. Everything is done natural with the sun, the air and just salt. The key is to dry them as fresh as they are, and that means as soon as possible. They contract with divers to dive for wild abalones. The exclusive green lips are only found in the northern part of Tasmania, while the black lips can be found all around Australia. This is the first time I saw so many abalones at the same time. Check out these huge ass abalones.
The drying process takes about 4 months and then throughout the drying and ageing process, the abalones developed the concentration of sugar which makes dried abalones having the Candy heart. This is something like caramelisation which cause the abalones to have a darker colour.
They select the abalones for drying depending on the quality and size which is determine by the demand of the market. It doesn’t mean that they always choose the biggest, as if it is too big, the market doesn’t have a huge demand for it. Not everyone can afford it.
It is a long process to have good dried abalones. They shrink in size and lose up to 75% to 80% of its original weight. This is why they are so expensive and precious. James showed us some of his personal collection. Candy Abalones ages their abalones for 16 to 18 months, and some are kept even longer. It is ideally kept in something like a wine cellar, where you want it at around 50% humidity. You can’t have too high or too low humidity, or it will crack.
We also saw one of the largest abalones ever sold at auction, and they cost close to 30000 AUD per kg.
I also learn about the fishing for abalones where commercial license cost around 1.6 million AUD and the amount that they can harvest varies. It is about 763 tons a year. Locals can also fish recreationally with a bag limit of 10 a day. .
Production Facilities
The very next day, James invited me to visit their production facilities in another part of Hobart. This is where all the fresh abalones are processed and prepped for drying or other products. It is quite an impressive affair seeing so many abalones getting unloaded. I appreciate James inviting me over to witness this, and I got lots of nice pictures.
We have 2.6 tons of abalones today, both Greenlips and Blacklips. Once they arrived, the crew turns the turbo on to shucked them. They have to be done asap to retain their freshness and quality. Let’s see how it goes. I’m really so interested and very glad to have the insight into these precious babies.
Everyone is getting to their station to shuck or wash the abalones. James was very hands on, from unloading to offering guidance to the staff on shucking.
He is the only one doing the selection and choosing which ones are selected for drying. Others will be frozen or made into other abalone products. We want healthy abalones.
Those that are not selected will be washed and cleaned before freezing. The selected ones will be brined and then put into a rumbler for washing. The various considerations are quality and size. We want a good and healthy abalone to invest in for drying and ageing.
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I even got to try my hand at shucking some abalone with guidance from James, and they were definitely not easy. You will need to get the technique and hang of it. I might have just ruined some gorgeous Greenlips!
Conclusion
I enjoyed my visit and learned a lot here. Special appreciation to James and the whole Candy Abalones team for showing me around and teaching me so much about abalones. It is such an eye-opener! It is the first time I have seen so many abalones in my entire life! I am glad to have a glimpse into the world of abalones and the production life cycle of abalones, from them being shucked to being dried and aged for the next few decades! This visit is certainly the highlight of my time in Tasmania! I can’t wait to try them out and cook these gorgeous abalones that I have brought back to Singapore. Do remember to get some Candy Abalones if you are ever in the area!
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