This idea originated early in the 1900's when there was little refrigeration and no food safety programs - eating shellfish in the warmer months of the year wasn't a good idea. Thanks to modern testing, improved farming and processing methods, and government approved food safety programs, shellfish are now available 12 months of the year.

We do, they are sweet and refreshing. However, as with all foods of animal origin (including beef, eggs, fish, lamb, poultry and shellfish), cooking reduces the risk of food borne illness. Persons with certain medical conditions may be at higher risk if these foods are consumed raw or under cooked. See our "Shellfish Handling Tips" for additional information.

From adult oysters. In our case, because we're farmers, we buy baby oysters from a commercial hatchery and rear them in our shellfish nursery until ready for planting. In the wild, Pacific oysters release gametes, that is eggs and sperm, into the water when the conditions are right. Oysters can spawn this way from none to several times in a single spawning season. Once the gametes are liberated into the sea around the parents, fertilization can occur between swimming sperm and free drifting eggs. Obviously, timing is of the essence, and fertilization occurs within about 15 hours. Larval development follows, and about 17-22 days later, the eyed larvae can settle, metamorphose, and grow into mature oysters. Very few baby oysters make it in the wild, so farming is the only reliable supply of seed animals here in BC.

Baby oysters eat algae by filtering seawater through their gills (sort of like a whale filtering water through its baleen to get shrimp). Algae is a microscopic plant that grows in water, so the oyster is a vegetarian, or plant eater. In fact, oysters eat only algae, or phytoplankton, through their entire life. A good sized adult oyster can filter some 80 Litres of water per day, and if every litre contained thousands of tasty, digestible bits of algae, you can imagine the process.

We plant baby oysters so that they are protected from the sun and mud. Sun and mud will kill baby oysters, so they are always protected with some kind of netting or pouch. We plant them in pouches or under nets on the inter-tidal area of the beach.

We harvest oysters by bending over and picking them up off the beach. We put them in a net, and leave them on the beach until the morning that we will process them. Then the nets of oysters are marked by floating corks and are picked up by one of our boats, and brought straight to the plant for processing that day. Oysters grow in the inter-tidal zone, which is the part of the beach that is covered with water at high tide, and exposed at low tide. In British Columbia, the tide ranges from 0 - 16 feet, which means that we have lots of room to grow oysters.

We do find pearls sometimes. Oysters make a pearl when something is bugging them. If they live on a rough beach where they are always tossed around by the waves, they will also have bits of rock tossing around with them. Some of these small rock fragments get inside the oyster's shell when it is open, and irritates their soft flesh. The oyster coats the rock with the same material as it makes its shell with, called nacre, or mother of pearl, and this is a pearl.

Yes, the two sexes are separate in this species of oyster. This means that at any one time, an oyster is either male or female; but in rare cases, both male and female sex organs are present. Interestingly, they can change sex during their lifetime from one to the other and possibly back again. The change is thought to be related to environmental conditions; femaleness being favoured in locations and years with good food supply.

Yes, it will, if there are some baby oysters attached to it, and it is put back on the beach. Sometimes the baby oysters are microscopic so you cannot see them on the empty shell, but they are still there. The new baby oysters will grow their own new shell, and only use the old shell to stick onto.

Oysters are an excellent source of zinc, a nutrient known for its contribution to sexual development, hence the reputation as an aphrodisiac. Oysters are also rich in iron, copper and other minerals, which contribute to good health.