Coffin Bay King Oysters are native to Australia. What do they taste like? They're featured among the most expensive food items in the world, and for a good reason.
Blue Point oysters
Joseph calls these "the Budweiser of oysters," since they're so ubiquitous on the East Coast — "everybody and their sister-in-law have had Blue Points in their life." He characterizes them, generally, as having medium salinity and medium minerality on the bite and finish.
Pacific oysters are small and sweet and the world's most cultivated oyster. They are growing in popularity in both Europe and the West Coast, where they are starting to over-run the native Olympia.
Coffin Bay King Oysters
Wanna try? Favorite? Coffin Bay king oyster is a Pacific oyster of an impressive size hailing from the pristine waters of South Australia's Coffin Bay. Unlike most oysters which are typically grown for about 18 months, these oysters are allowed to grow for up to 6 or 7 years.
With so few harvested a year (estimated at no more than 5,000), the Maine “Belon” is among the rarest oyster available anywhere.
Sydney rocks grow off Australia's eastern coastline, while Pacifics tend to grow in cooler areas such as Tasmania and South Australia. Pacifics are usually larger than Sydney rock oysters, and tend to be plumper, milder and creamier.
Generally speaking, Pacific oysters will have a pronounced cucumber or vegetal undertone. Atlantics are more prone to take on earthy, mushroomy, and molluscy notes. Texturally, East Coast oysters tend to be solid bites—silky to meatier, whereas West Coast will be slightly creamier, custardy.
In Australia we are lucky to clean water in our seas and estuaries that result in some of the finest tasting oysters in the world, including the renowned Sydney Rock Oyster that is grown in estuaries along the coast of NSW.
France is the No. 1 consumer and exporter of oysters in Europe producing 150,000 tonnes every year. King Henri IV (1553-1610) was said to eat a eye-popping 300 of them at a time.
It only took the duo 27 minutes to eat a staggering 492 oysters, smashing the record of 480 oysters eaten in two hours and 15 minutes by Jonathan Brunet and Michael Côté Gagnon in 2012.
Belon oysters are one of the most sought-after varieties in the world, and they're also one of the most expensive. These oysters are harvested in the Belon River in France and have a unique, coppery flavor that sets them apart from other oysters.
Meet Jill. This gnarly 2.74kg specimen is officially the nation's biggest oyster – and she hails from a farm on the Clyde River, NSW. The man behind the winner is Bernie Connell, a three-time champion of a competition which is held annually at Narooma Oyster Festival on the NSW South Coast.
Did you know that abalone is a highly prized delicacy and aphrodisiac in the Far East? It is rich, flavourful, and among the world's most expensive seafood. Abalone are a type of single-shelled (gastropod) herbivorous marine mollusc.
There are three species of oysters commonly eaten in Australia - Sydney rock oysters, Pacific oysters & Flat oysters. Whilst the Pacific oyster is the most common species grown worldwide, the Sydney rock oyster is a species endemic (native) to Australia and is New South Wales' dominant commercial species.
The southern mud oyster, Australian flat oyster, native flat oyster, native mud oyster, or angasi oyster (Ostrea angasi), is endemic to southern Australia, ranging from Western Australia to southeast New South Wales and around Tasmania.
Introduced to Australia in the 1940s, this species originates from Japan. Large and with a salty-sweet, creamy taste, Pacific oysters are considered at their best from April to September.
New England Oysters are one of the most popular Oysters among East Coast lovers. These come from colder waters and take longer to mature, resulting in a complex salinity. The Oysters are usually medium in size and have tons of plump meat and clean liquor.
The Sweet Tooth
Forget Eastern oysters. The kind of sweetness you're looking for can only be found in a Kumamoto—sweetest of the sweet—and some Pacifics. Totten Inlets are reliably sweet, Baywater Sweets and Hog Island Sweetwaters amazingly so.
Pinctada is a genus of saltwater oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pteriidae. These pearl oysters have a strong inner shell layer composed of nacre, also known as "mother of pearl".
AMONG the lesser-known prizes available to New Yorkers are mussels, known in France as the poor man's oyster. Throughout the winter months they are relatively plentiful at first-class fish markets here and the cost is relatively low.
They are grown in the gold-lip variety of the Pinctada maxima, South Sea pearl oyster. Their warm, golden tones are completely natural, and no treatments are needed to enjoy the beauty of these luxurious gems.
Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea Gigas)
That's how Pacifics are also called Gigas, Japanese, or Miyagi oysters. And those names say a lot. Though they are native to Japan, these oysters are farmed on the Pacific coasts of the United States, as well.