"The wives' tale of eating oysters in months with an R is from before refrigeration when an oyster could actually harm or even kill you," says Eli Kirshstein, culinary director at seafood and gourmet distributor Inland Foods. "We've gotten to a place where oyster harvesting is safe and sustainable."
"Aquaculture environments are controlled - the oysters still live in the ocean and have a more predictable existence than their wild counterparts. Think of it like wild-caught salmon versus the farm-raised variety."
"Once the oysters are harvested, they are placed on a refrigerated truck and checked periodically for quality and freshness every few hours. These regulations, known as the Molluscan Shellfish Protocol, were put into place on a federal level by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program."
"Still, those who associate the winter season with an ice-cold oyster dressed with lemon or mignonette have a point - oysters are different in the winter. This is because their flavor profiles change with their environment - they are, after all, the official filter of the sea."
Collection
[
|
...
]