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Kentucky Proud defines agricultural products that are raised or produced in Kentucky by Kentuckians. The slogan means many things to many people – delicious blackberry jam, rich-tasting Kentucky country ham, mouth-watering tomatoes and melons, and much more – all produced with the greatest care to offer a special treat to families throughout Kentucky, the nation and the world.
Kentucky Proud also means the people behind those products – people willing to take chances and try new things, people who won’t settle for second best, people who love farm life.
To commemorate National Agriculture Week March 20-26, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture is beginning an ongoing series of profiles of Kentucky agricultural businesses that have become household names in the Commonwealth. Some are developing a national audience and even a global following.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Shuckman’s Fish Company & Smokery, like its namesake, never stands still.
Owner Lewis Shuckman constantly is working on ideas to improve and add to his Louisville-based company’s line of Kentucky Proud smoked fish and Kentucky caviar products. One ambitious plan would establish an aquaculture business deep in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky.
| Lewis Shuckman operates a machine that vacuum-packs his company's smoked fish products at its Louisville plant. (Photo by Ted Sloan) |
Shuckman plans to work with Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Harlan County to build a fish processing plant in the area. The college is raising rainbow trout in water from abandoned coal mines and helping a nearby high school raise tilapia in tap water as an aquaculture demonstration project. SKCTC is recruiting prospective fish farmers to help them get into aquaculture production on their own.
Shuckman and Paul Pratt, SKCTC dean of community and business development, agree that aquaculture has tremendous potential for the region.
“We’re going to make this thing happen. This is going to be huge,” Shuckman said. “The people are great. The concept is great. Production is no problem. Processing is no problem. This has got win-win-win written all over it.”
“We think we can demonstrate this can be done profitably,” said Pratt, who is overseeing the aquaculture project. “There is tremendous potential for this in eastern Kentucky.”
The plant would process trout and tilapia for distribution in Kentucky and other states in the region, Shuckman said. He estimated the plant will be completed by mid-2006.
The water in which the trout are raised flows from the mouth of an abandoned mine in the Benham-Lynch historic mining corridor near the Virginia border. It stays at a constant 50-55 degrees. It produces trout that are very firm and have a natural taste, Shuckman said.
“You couldn’t design a better environment for raising trout,” he said.
Dr. James Tidwell, director of the aquaculture center at Kentucky State University, and Angela Caporelli, aquaculture marketing coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, have toured the SKCTC demonstration project and the area mines. “The abandoned mines produce clean, cold water at a rate of 3,000 gallons per minute,” said Caporelli, who provides technical assistance for aquaculture businesses throughout the Commonwealth. “The potential for trout production is substantial.”
Shuckman is already buying some of the mine water-raised trout, smoking it, packing it and selling it as Shuckman’s Black Mountain Rainbow Trout. It was served to members of the Kentucky delegation at the inauguration of President Bush in January.
Shuckman has ties to the mountains through his brother-in-law, whose father came to the area as a doctor for the former International Harvester company.
“I’ve always been a supporter of eastern Kentucky,” he said.
The SKCTC operation produces up to 10,000 pounds of trout a year. It supplies live trout for Shuckman’s Smokery, the Benham School House Inn restaurant, local ponds and a fishing camp in nearby southwestern Virginia.
The aquaculture project was launched in 2000 with help from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. It started out simply raising the trout but now is hatching fingerlings from eggs and may serve as a fingerling supplier as area producers get into the business, Pratt said.
Shuckman’s produces its premium products from a nondescript building in Louisville’s West End. Shuckman’s uses a computer-controlled smokery that processes up to 1,000 pounds of fish at a time. Shuckman smokes his fish with bourbon and different species of wood – depending on the species of fish.
A state-of-the-art packaging machine vacuum-packs the smoked salmon, bass, trout and spoonfish. It processes up to 30 packages a minute. The vacuum-packed products are refrigerated – not frozen – and have a shelf life of about six weeks.
In addition to the Kentucky Proud smoked fish and Kentucky caviar, Shuckman’s offers regular, Creole and bourbon smoked salmon dip. It packages Mooney’s Pickle Dip and Mooney’s Jalapeno Dip.
Shuckman’s Smokery products have been featured in Southern Living and Cigar Aficionado magazines, USA Today, The New York Times and Oprah magazine. They will be served at the 2005 Kentucky Derby. Shuckman’s spoonfish caviar was voted Best of 2004 by Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Shuckman’s products are available at Slone’s Signature Markets, Algood Foods, Doll’s Market, the Marriott Griffin Gate, Burger’s, Oldtown Liquors, Creative Garden and many Louisville-area restaurants.
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