Classified Enterprises LLC Loc: Downers Grove. Il.

IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS!

Get ready to be a connoisseur, because after you read these oyster facts, you’ll be able to impress your savviest friends and family with your oyster information. You might even change the way you eat oysters and enjoy flavors you never knew were there.

Oysters change their gender.

One of the most interesting oyster facts is that oysters change their sex during their lives, starting as males and usually ending as females. The shape of oysters varies and depends mainly on how many crowd about them in the bed as they develop.

An oyster can filter 1.3 gallons of water per hour.

Oysters filter water in through their gills and consume food, like plankton, in the process. Oysters can maintain the balance of a marine ecosystem by reducing excess algae and sediment that can lead to hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, causing other marine life to die. The oyster population of Chesapeake Bay used to filter the entire water volume of the bay in just three days.

Oysters are shaped by their beds.

Once an oyster attaches to a bed (a surface occupied by a group of oysters), it grows and forms around the surface it attaches to as well as the other oysters around it.

Pearls don’t only come from oysters.

All oysters are capable of producing pearls, but not the shiny, pretty pearls of value. In fact, most pearls are harvested from an inedible type of oyster as well as from freshwater mussels.

Humans have been eating and cultivating oysters for thousands of years.

Oysters have been eaten by humans since prehistoric times and cultivated at least since the times of the Roman Empire. The Roman Sergius Orata was the first person known to cultivate oysters by building a system that could control water levels.

Most American oysters are of the same species.

Get your oyster facts straight — oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay and off the coast of Virginia are all the same oyster, Crassotrea virginica. This oyster species is native to the Gulf Coast and the East Coast. However, this does NOT mean they all taste the same.

Gulf oysters used to have different names.

Other than Gulf oysters, you may have tried Blue Points or Quonset Points. These are all the same species of oyster, but they are named after the specific locations where they are harvested. Once upon a time, Gulf oysters were also named after specific bays, but distributors started to group them all into the same category. This may change again in the future.

Oysters get their flavors from their environments.

Although most American oysters are the same species, they have different flavors. Because oysters filter so much water, they develop a flavor profile from their environment. Different bodies of water have varying levels of salt and different kinds of nutrients.

Like wines, Oysters have a variety of flavor profiles.

The flavor of oysters can be categorized mainly by the following flavor characteristics: briny, buttery, sweet, metallic and mild. Experts can break down these flavors even further, picking out flavors like melon, cucumber, mushroom and more. Keep this tidbit of oyster information in mind next time you try an oyster on the half shell.

Oysters are rich in vitamins and nutrients.

Oysters contain a variety of vitamins and nutrients including zinc, calcium, magnesium, protein, selenium, and vitamin A. They also contain especially high levels of vitamin B12, iron and monounsaturated fat – the “healthy” kind of fat that you also find in olive oil.

Now you are an expert! Impress your friends…..

Have a great day....

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Very interesting Ron. Thanks

Jeremy Loc: America

Thank You for all the Oyster Information. I love Oysters and will never remember how many hundreds or thousands I have consumed. Good source of Zinc.

Gotta shuck em. ( removing meat from the inside of shell )

I really like them most cooked in the shell on BBQ until they boil and pop open. Or fried with a little spicy breading. Professional Scuba Divers like them with a little Italian Salad Dressing in the have shell after they pop open from the salt water in shell boiling.

They are one of the perfect foods meaning they provide balanced nutrition.

mmadoc Loc: santa rosa,CA

thanks for the interesting read!

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Excellent report, Just Sayin....RJS

JimH Loc: Pomona CA

That's good information. I love oysters, and every time I go to the New Orleans jazz festival I eat so many I'm surprised I'm not passing pearls. I've definitely noticed some of these flavors in oysters I've eaten in my travels around the country.

charlykilo Loc: Garden Valley Ca

I ate 1 raw. 3 times then spit it out. I wasn't drunk enough. LOL

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

I once sat in a bar/restaurant named Elliot's, down in the wharf district of Seattle, killing time while waiting for a friend to come back from Alaska, as the flight was delayed, due to weather. I ordered a beer and perused the menu.....58 species of Oysters available !!!
I had found my heaven !
Over the next 5-6 hrs I waited, I tried the "Northwest Platter", the Asian Platter, the South African Platter, the East Coast Platter, and the European Atlantic Platter. Each platter was a baker's dozen oysters, usually 3, sometimes 4 species, labeled as to origin. Of course, it required a few pints and a variety of gorgeous breads to accompany my chosen bounty.
Best..."make me wait for hours" of my life !
I had been calling the airline every 30 minutes to check the status of my friend's flight (1995, no cell phone or smart phone internet connection to check on it), and finally was told it was arriving in 40 minutes. I finished the last of the oysters, drank my last swig of an excellent Porter (had to have a different microbrew with each platter, of course !) and motioned to the waiter(my 2nd one, the first had finished their shift and gone) to bring me my tab.
Having ordered what I had, I was bracing myself for a shocking total, but was prepared, mentally as well as financially. To my surprise, the last platter had been circled on the ticket and its cost deducted from the total. When I questioned the waiter, he said..."the manager told me to do that, she said she had never seen anyone eat that many oysters at one sitting, and with such appreciation for the variety...and besides you had to wait so long for the weather delay, she said to say thanks for picking us, and make sure to tell others where to get the freshest oysters from around the world... right here at Elliot's".
I paid the nearly $100 tab(1995 price, probably twice that now !?), left a twenty for a tip....then I thought about the last 6 or so hours and especially the last gesture, that just added to the stellar service all afternoon...and added a ten.
Best money spent on a "just appetizers meal" ever, bar none.

Leslie's plane landed safely, I picked her up without incident, related my afternoon, and she said oooh, that sounds great, let's go back there ! I asked her if she was going to pay, since I had pretty much blown my budget with the oysters and gas, and we still needed to drive 9hrs home, so more gas, more food, what say you ? She said "we can head home, sorry, I have the money for the meal and gas, but then we'd need a hotel room and then breakfast, this could get out of hand, let's just head home. Thanks for waiting, I will fix us a feast tomorrow night....on me... tequila included, okay ?
All's well that ends well.

And btw, Classified, enjoyed the read, but have to question the "same species" thing.
The above tale and about 60+ years of travel and loving oysters, I can say that oysters from New England, or Florida, or New Orleans, and most certainly my favorite PNW ones, Willapa Bay from Washington, are related, but doubtful if same species, as well as the fact that there are freshwater species of both oysters and mussels, but I will check on that.
Not only the taste, but the sizes, the configurations of the beds (yes, I have harvested, even with a snorkel) and shell shapes make me curious about that thought, certainly don't exhibit species sameness.

Second BTW..... the little tiny "Hama Hama" oysters from Japan are my pick for "Best in Show" that particular day in 1995 !

If you are ever in southern Oregon on a Thursday night, head over to the "Bella Union Restaurant" in Jacksonville for "Oysters and Ale Night".... a different PNW/NorCal microbrewery and endless oysters, grilled or fresh, each week, October through April..... good beer, good food, good music, good folks, good times, join us !

woodguru Loc: El Dorado Ca

I'll never see the days when we could put down a dozen dozen like we did in Louisiana when I was in Shreveport in the early 70's. They were like a buck and a half a dozen, we would start with six dozen, and add a few more dozen from there. The oyster shuckers would make dump truck loads of shells every day out behind the bars.

woodguru Loc: El Dorado Ca

Besides after that many oysters it was best to skip doing anything like eating more with Leslie...just sayin

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

I could have easily eaten more.
For some reason, they are easy on my system, and I remember eating an equivalent amount many times....I am equally destructive to crab legs and shrimp ! ........ must have something to do with growing up in Kansas, far away from FRESH versions of all "tasty seafood treats", enjoyment being relegated to distant vacations.... I guess I'm making up for lost time ! Have a ways to go, yet ! We are fortunate to have several markets here, ~100 miles inland, that offer "swimming yesterday, at most the day before" fare, including, of course, my favorite fish (and on my plate, no less than twice a week, even though it might be frozen)...... salmon.

woodguru Loc: El Dorado Ca

Have you ever had Kokanee? They are like salmon candy, it's the reason people become Kokanee fishing fools.

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Wish I was with you. Those platers sound great.

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

Love kokanee, especially if I can get enough to warrant firing up the smoker, just one more salmon species to love.

Richey Loc: The Villages, Fl

How to cook oysters on a grill and recipes ?