Description: Pacific oysters are large, fastgrowing,
cupped oysters with deep, elongated, thick and rough shells. The shell colour
ranges from muddy brown to light gray and contains some purple streaks and
spots. The meat is creamy white with a dark fringe around the mantle at times,
although the colour of the meat as well as the shell can vary by region and
season. While the oyster can grow to over 30 cm (12 inches) it is normally
harvested at 15 cm (6 inches) or less.
The mild, sweet flavour of
live Pacific oysters is highly valued. The texture is firm and
plump.
Product Forms: Oysters are predominantly available
live-in-shell, although fresh shucked meats, in-shell-frozen, frozen meats and
smoked meats may also be available.
Availability: Oysters are harvested year-round and
accordingly are available throughout the year. However, they are particularly
best raw during the fall and winter months because they spawn in the summer
months and as a result become softer and more fatty during this
time.
Buying Tips: When buying live oysters, ensure their
shells are hard and closed. Open shells should close tightly when tapped. If
they don't close, they are dead and should be avoided since bacteria multiply
very quickly in dead shellfish, making them dangerous to eat.
Fresh shucked oysters should
be plump, have good colour, smell fresh and be packaged in clear oyster liquid.
Overall, oysters should also have a natural sea smell and should be avoided if
they smell sulphurous or feel slimy.
Storing
Tips: Live oysters should be stored in a refrigerator cup-side down and
covered with a damp towel. Live oysters need to breathe and therefore will not
survive when stored in buckets of water, plastic bags or airtight containers.
Store both live and fresh oysters in the refrigerator at 0°C (32°F) to 10°C
(50°F).
Refrigerate shucked oysters
in their liquor (oyster juices). Properly refrigerated oysters will stay alive
up to 7 days after being harvested.
Preparation/Usage: The sooner Pacific oysters are used,
the better they will taste. Oysters are particularly popular served raw on the
half-shell.
Frozen oysters should be
thawed in the refrigerator and once thawed, they should not be refrozen.
Oysters in the shell can be
served raw, baked, steamed, grilled or in specialty dishes such as Oysters
Rockefeller. Shucked Pacific oysters can be served raw, sautéed, steamed,
grilled, or used in soups and stews or other specialty dishes.
Pacific oysters require very
little cooking time and should be heated slowly to avoid them turning to rubber.
Regardless of the cooking method used, they are done when the mantle starts to
curl.
Area of Origin and Range of Availability: Originally
from Japan, the Pacific oyster is now the most widely cultured oyster in the
world, harvested predominantly in the Pacific Ocean.
Harvest
Volume: The average annual production in British Columbia is
approximately 5,500 tonnes. In 2001, however, 7,300 tonnes were
harvested.
Harvest/Cultivation Method: While some wild oyster beds
exist in British Columbia, virtually all of the commercial Pacific oyster
harvest in British Columbia is farmed. There are three main aquaculture
techniques used. The first is off-bottom culture, in which floating longlines,
rafts and fences are used. In this method, the oyster cont top right
growers string cultch (material that oysters attach themselves to) onto
wire or nylon rope and suspend it above the bottom of the ocean in time to
collect setting larvae. The oysters are then grown in suspension until they
attain the desired length. Once separated from the cultch, the oysters are
either planted on the ocean bottom or placed on trays suspended in the water to
strengthen their shells. Another cultivation method is bottom culture, in which
natural spat (young oyster seed), hatchery seed or sets are used. A third method
uses large-scale floating nurseries called FLUPSYs. These floating upwelling
systems can accommodate 10 million or more single oyster seed in screened bins
straddling a raceway.
Processing
Method: After being harvested by hand or machine from only approved
areas, the oysters are culled to return undersized oysters and old shells to the
beds. In registered processing plants the oysters are then cleaned, graded and
packed for shipping.
Markets:
Approximately 80% of Pacific oysters are exported to the United States and
Asia.
Sustainability: In recognition that shellfish farming is
an environmentally sustainable activity with the potential to create significant
economic opportunities for British Columbian residents, the BC provincial
government ended a decade-long moratorium on new tenures with the introduction
of the Shellfish Development Initiative. The government together with shellfish
farmers and other industry members are in the process of developing a set of
mandatory operational standards. In addition, a detailed planning process is
part of this initiative whereby coastal communities, First Nations communities,
government and the shellfish industry are working together to determine the most
appropriate sites for shellfish aquaculture within each community and to strike
a balance between the potentially competing resource uses of the British
Columbian coast.
Historical and Anecdotal Information: Oysters have a
long history of nourishing the human race and being perceived as an aphrodisiac
as the Romans were noted to enthusiastically eat them 2,000 years ago. It is
likely that oysters were the first sea animal to be transported from one area to
another and cultivated as food. The Pacific oyster fishery started in British
Columbia in the 1920s when seed from Japan was first introduced into west coast
waters. It is now the most widely cultivated oyster in British Columbia and the
Pacific Northwest.
| NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
|
| Per 3.5 oz/100 grams of raw edible
portion
|
|
| Calories
|
81
|
| Total fat
|
2.3 g
|
| Saturated fat
|
0.5
g
|
| Protein
|
9.5 g
|
| Cholesterol
|
50.0
mg
|
| Sodium
|
106.0
mg
|
|
|
| Source: USDA
|
|
