An Oyster Life (Blog)

North American Oysters. Flavor 101  As the traditional oyster season is underway, I felt inclined to pick up an old favorite book. I first picked up A Geography of Oysters by Rowan Jacobson back in 2009 when I first got into the oyster trade. If you're an oyster fanatic or someone new to the scene, it's fun to touch up on some of the basics.  Here are some quick flavor profiles of the five commercially cultivated oysters in North America.  Each oyster species can be thought of as we do grapes. Each has classic characteristics.  They can be expressed quite differently, depending...

If you’re a new shucker it may seem like oysters are impossible to open. With practice, it gets easier, but oysters are hard to open for good reason. The oyster’s shell is its only protection from hungry birds, otters, fish, and of course, oyster-loving people. As a result, they’ve evolved to protect themselves as best they can from being opened. Their anatomy is designed to keep their shell closed. The oyster shell itself is made up of hard calcium carbonate, protecting the oyster inside from anything that may try to get in. The shells operate on a hinge and fit...

The perfect slurp starts with the perfect shuck. A quality oyster-shucking knife is a must-have if you're shucking raw oysters. Oyster shucking knives are specifically designed to open oyster shells while withstanding the pressure and twisting motion needed to get the job done. As well, oyster shucking knives are often designed with specific oyster types or regions in mind– over the course of history new oyster knife designs have sprung up to make shucking oysters from a specific region even easier. Knowing what kind of knife to use and having a quality one hand will make shucking your oysters easier....

Fall is made for cooking over an open fire. This delicious char-grilled oyster recipe from closet Cooking is a great way to get your oysters out of the bag and onto the plate. Pulling references from classic NOLA-style recipes, these oysters are topped with sizzling butter and melty cheese and cooked over an open flame to suck in all of the smoky goodness. Give it a try yourself and tag us on Instagram to show off your results.   What You Need: 1 dozen White Stone Oysters Stick of butter 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 2 cloves garlic, grated 1 tbsp....

The Chesapeake Bay is an amazing place and since our creation, we’ve made it our goal to work to help to build the bay and help support the ecosystem and region that gives us so much. Oyster farms like ours benefit the Chesapeake Bay in a number of ways. First, we’re able to create jobs and bring revenue to the region. Farmed oysters are also responsible for filtering micronutrients out of the bay, preventing hazardous algae blooms, and cleaning the area’s waters. Lastly, recycled oyster shells can be used to create artificial reefs which provide habitat for many other species....

The oyster and its pearl are a combination known around the world. However, many people don’t know exactly what causes an oyster to form a pearl. Oysters are not the only mollusk that can form pearls– clams and mussels do it as well, but much less frequently. The formation of pearls by oysters is a biological process, the oyster is actually protecting itself from a foreign substance. In order to understand how oysters make pearls, it’s important to first understand the basics of their anatomy. Oysters are bivalves, which means their shell is made of two parts, the valves. The...

Whether you’re an oyster newbie or a shuckin’ pro, it can be hard to describe exactly what an oyster tastes like. Combine that with the fact that their flavor profiles can vary greatly by merroir, time of year, and more and it can leave you tongue-tied. This guide will give you some basics on what oysters taste like, and how to talk about them. To describe an oyster’s flavor, we have to consider several factors including oyster species, geographic location, merrior, and more. Just like wine, oysters can vary greatly in flavor, as influenced by the waters they live in....

East coast oysters. West coast oysters. Like Tupac and Biggie, the rivalry between the two has spanned the ages. The two varieties of oysters each sport their own merroir, shape, size, and mouth feels. Knowing the difference between the two can help you know what to expect when getting your slurp on. East Coast oysters like our White Stone Oysters are often smoother with larger cups and a briny, savory flavor. White Stone Oysters, for example, very sweet,  vegetal, and umami notes with a medium salinity. West Coast oysters tend to have a ruffled shell with a deeper cup, are...