Where Conservation Meets Cultivation  

A tour of the Cultured Abalone Farm has to be one of the great, little-known outdoor adventures in Santa Barbara County. At Rancho Dos Pueblos, north of Goleta, you can spend a few hours at this gorgeous spot on the Gaviota Coast, learning about the iconic shellfish. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the miracle of nature. 

Abalone are marine gastropods, or sea snails. They hide their beautiful mother-of-pearl under ear-shaped shells that can grow to be as strong as concrete. For more than 10,000 years, their plenitude fed Indigenous communities along the western coast of the Americas, providing an excellent source of protein. Their multi-colored, pearlescent shells were crafted into decorations, jewelry, and tools and used in ceremonies, burials, and trade.  

In Southern California in the 1960s, abalone were so common, you could buy an abalone burger for a dollar at beach burger shacks. On Hollister Ranch, where my family lived during those years, my uncle organized the occasional abalone expedition along its miles of empty beaches. On a rocky point at low tide, he deftly popped abalone off the rocks. Back at the house, we kids were corralled into pounding the tough muscle into the delicacy for which a restaurant like Lucky’s Steakhouse in Montecito now charges $115.  

In the heyday of the commercial abalone industry in the 1950s and ’60s, abalone fishers were harvesting 2,000 tons (four million pounds!) a year of red, white, and black abalone — three of the seven species found in this part of the world. In a regrettably familiar story, as harvests increased, abalone dwindled. At the same time, warming waters and disease killed off the sunflower sea star, the biggest predator of sea urchin, who were then left to reproduce unchecked, decimating the kelp forests that abalone rely on for food.  

Commercial fishing was stopped in 1997 — almost too late — and recreational free diving for abalone has been banned until 2036, although poaching is still a big problem.  

“In my lifetime, commercial abalone harvesting has never been legal,” says Andie Van Horn, farm-to-table manager at the Cultured Abalone Farm. She is giving me a tour of the operation, explaining that the only way to procure fresh abalone today is through aquaculture. The farm is one of only two that raise abalone in California. The other is the Monterey Abalone Company, where the abalone are raised in crates under a pier.  

At the farm, I discovered how a million abalone are spawned in hatcheries and grown with careful husbandry in hundreds of tanks, something that would have been unimaginable to my teenage self walking on the beach, looking for perfect tiny abalone shells.  

Van Horn, who studied marine biology at UC Santa Barbara, is an informative, articulate guide. Her job draws on her scientific background and involves a lot of hands-on work. 

“Every day, 2.3 million gallons of unfiltered ocean water are pumped in from intake pipes 40 feet deep in the ocean,” says Van Horn, who takes pride in the farm’s sustainable practices. “The growing environment in the tanks replicates the abalone’s intertidal native habitat.” Every week, 10 to 16 tons of freshly harvested giant kelp are brought in to feed them. 

“To trim the kelp, we have our kelp cutter boat,” Van Horn says. “It trims about the top 6 feet — like mowing a lawn — so it doesn’t damage the forest.” Ogo and dulse seaweeds are also grown onsite for feed and to sell. 

The farm ships abalone throughout the United States, Canada, and the Pacific Rim, along with selling them at its shop. “It has become more of a delicacy than a common meal item,” Van Horn says. “The standard size we sell is about a quarter of a pound, and it takes three to four years of constant hand feeding, weighing, and sorting, as they are moved through the tanks, to get to that size.”  

For me, the big story is how conservation and regeneration are just as important to this operation as growing a prized shellfish. The most recent owners of Rancho Dos Pueblos, where the farm is located, created the Dos Pueblos Institute, which works “to connect people to the land in a hands-on, experiential fashion via a variety of programs, including outdoor education, public access, experimental regenerative agriculture, and restoration programs and scientific and educational partnerships.”  

The Cultured Abalone Farm, which was founded in 1989, fits all these criteria. One example is their cultivation of purple sea urchins. With the decline of their traditional predators — otters and sunflower sea stars — sea urchins are decimating the giant kelp along the Santa Barbara coast. Divers from the farm bring the spiky invertebrates from the ocean in a semi-starvation, dormant state to the farm’s tanks. After feeding on seaweed for 10 weeks, they are ready for market.   

The farm also contributes to the restoration of red and white abalone by helping to return them to the ocean. The practice benefits both abalone populations and their habitat: Known as “architects of the kelp forest,” abalone increase biodiversity. Among other endeavors, the farm is partnering with the Bay Foundation on a four-year project to outplant 40,000 red abalone at Refugio in response to the 2015 oil spill.  

White abalone are considered reproductively extinct; it is thought that they can no longer reproduce in the wild. But they can and do at the farm, which sends hatchlings to other programs researching how to outplant them successfully.  

At the Cultured Abalone Farm, science and hard work are contributing to bringing these species back from probable extinction. Go for the adventure, and stay for a lesson in human ingenuity, sustainability, and hope. 

Abalone Fun Facts

• You can grow abalone with materials from any hardware store: plastic buckets, PVC pipes, bathroom tiles, and shade cloth. The challenge is getting access to fresh recirculating sea water.
• Fossils show that abalone lived along the Pacific Coast 70 million years ago. Pockets of them survived the Ice Age to evolve into more than 50 species worldwide.
• Red abalone are named for the red band around the edge of their shell, while white abalone gets its name from the color of its meat tissue.
• Abalone have primitive eyes that can detect light. They use chemical sensors on their ruffled black epipodial fringe to detect nearby seaweed.
• Marine gastropod mollusks like abalone graze seaweed by slowly scraping away at it using their radula, an organ that resembles a tongue with teeth.  
• Abalone draw water into their gills through the small holes on their shells. They can live out of water for up to 24 hours.
• Pearls found in abalone are rare and highly prized. Known for their intense colors and iridescence, they come in irregular, non-spherical shapes that resemble a shark’s tooth or a horn.
• Before free diving for abalone was outlawed in California in 2018, the sport attracted passionate, obsessive practitioners, as well as unfortunate amateurs. Cold water, unpredictable swells, and tangles of kelp make abalone diving more fatal than skydiving.
  
  

RECIPE: Pan-Fried Abalone With Preserved Lemon and Pistachio Gremolata  

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• Author: Cultured Abalone Farm
• Yield: Serves 2 as a main protein or up to 6 as an appetizer 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

The preserved lemon and pistachio gremolata

• 1/2 preserved lemon
• 1 whole lemon
• 1 cup raw pistachios
• 1 garlic clove, grated finely, until it forms a paste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

The abalone

• 6 standard size abalone (~ 1/4 lb each)
• Avocado oil, or another high-smoke-point oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup panko
• Sea salt

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Instructions

1. Chop the preserved lemon very finely, almost into a paste, being careful to remove the seeds.
2. Zest the lemon and juice half of the lemon. Set aside.
3. On the stove top, toast the pistachios until fragrant and before they turn brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool before chopping.
4. Add the chopped preserved lemon, lemon zest, lemon juice, and garlic to the chopped, cooled pistachios. Mix in the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. You may not need salt as the preserved lemon is very salty.
5. Using a small paring knife or a spoon, shuck the abalone from their shells: Starting at the top of the abalone, where the holes begin, run your knife or spoon under the membrane connecting the meat to the shell. Work your way around the shell until the membrane is completely removed from the shell. With some force, pop the meat from its attachment point in the middle of the shell. Remove the guts and head from the meat and discard.
6. Place the abalone between two sheets of parchment paper, ensuring the parchment is folded and tucked along the edges, enclosing the abalone on all sides.
7. Using a meat tenderizer or rolling pin, lightly pound the abalone to tenderize, being careful not to split the meat. Pound until the abalone is about 1/4-inch thick. Repeat with each abalone, using new parchment paper each time.
8. In a heavy-bottomed pan such as cast-iron, add the oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Heat on medium-high until the oil is shimmering and starting to smoke.
9. While waiting for the oil to come to temperature, lightly beat the eggs in a shallow bowl. Place the flour and panko in separate shallow dishes and season each with salt. Dredge each abalone steak in flour, then eggs, then panko, ensuring each steak is coated completely.
10. Cook the breaded abalone for 40 seconds on each side in the smoking hot pan until golden brown. Be sure not to crowd the pan; cook the abalone in batches if necessary. Place on a paper towel or wire rack to drain any excess oil. Season with salt immediately.
11. Top the hot abalone with the preserved lemon gremolata to your taste, and enjoy!

Notes

Can’t find preserved lemon? You can substitute two whole lemons. Just be sure to cut the whole lemon really finely after zesting and juicing, and remove the seeds.

RECIPE: Ogo Martini

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• Author: Cultured Abalone Farm
• Yield: Serves 1

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 handful ogo seaweed
• 2.5 oz gin or vodka
• 0.5 oz dry vermouth
• Ice
• 1 sprig ogo, for garnish

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Instructions

1. Place your martini glass in the freezer.
2. Place the handful of ogo in the bottom of a cocktail shaker, and add the ice to the top.
3. Add the gin or vodka and the vermouth.
4. Shake vigorously.
5. Pour the drink though a strainer into your chilled martini glass, and top with an artful sprig of ogo. Enjoy!

Notes

If you don’t like vermouth, you can substitute an equal amount of gin or vodka.