When our group first started going to the Oyster Festival in Urbanna about 20 years ago, a quart of oysters was $10. Then they went to $11, then $12, and higher. Last week, I bought a quart of oysters and paid $39.95. But they were really good.
When I was a child, oysters were cheap. My Uncle Sidney would go down to Morehead City and return to Raleigh with a bushel of oysters for $3 or $4. Then he would sit beside the wood stove in the kitchen and shuck them. We often had Oyster Stew as a meal. I remember not being crazy about the strange-tasting oysters in the stew, but I loved the broth, especially with lots of saltine crackers floating on top. I think my folks ate some of the oysters raw, but I don’t recall anyone ever frying them – now my favorite.
Because of overfishing and the deterioration in water quality, oysters are no longer abundant in Virginia and the Carolinas, but they are making a comeback. There are now lots of cottage-industry oyster farms, where the grow the tasty mollusks at the ends of docks and piers. Tonging for oysters is largely a thing of the past,
Oysters, of course, live in marine or brackish coastal waters, where they attach to hard surfaces like rocks, piers, and older shells. Throughout Virginia, new oyster beds are being formed from old shells along structures. As they grow, they form reefs that provide crucial habitat for many other marine animals.
Oysters are filter-feeders on plankton and other particles from the water and they once kept the bay and tidal rivers in pristine condition.
The flavor of oysters is influenced by their environment, a concept known as “merroir”. Key factors affecting taste include the water’s temperature, salinity, and what the oysters eat.
They are often described as having a salty, or minerally tasting. Winter oysters are often sweeter, while summer oysters can be more mineral-flavored. That’s why the old adage of “months with “Rs” described when oysters were at their best.
Forty bucks is a lot to pay for a quart of oysters, but that many would easily provide 4 or 5 large platters of fried oysters and that’s still a pretty good deal.
