Not everyone's cup of tea, so to speak, lots of people are put off by the fact that they are still alive when you buy them, and, more often than not, still alive when you eat them !

You can cook them, however, in various ways. Oysters Rockefeller, Angels on horseback, Oyster Chowder and Oysters Mornay spring to mind.
And we did once try them poached, on a bed of scrambled egg with Caviar, which was most memorable.

But probably the best way of enjoying Oysters is raw, with a squeeze of lemon juice, or a little shallot vineagar. 6 of them, or if you are hungry, a dozen as a starter.

Famously, Casanova would eat 4 dozen every morning, and we all know what he would get up to later in the day ! Whether or not oysters are an aphrodisiac is open to debate, but they are a source of valuable minerals, including zinc, and are low in colesterol, so are very healthy eating.

These days, Oysters have an air of luxury and sophistication about them, but this has not always been the case. In the 1880's in Britain, we got through 1200 million a year. Edinburgh alone required a hundred thousand daily, and the oyster was very definately regarded as food for the poorer classes.

Until quite recently, Oysters came from huge natural oyster beds, but exploitation and pollution over the years has led to their decline, and pretty much all the oysters we eat these days are farmed. We live in Jersey, in the Bay of Mont St. Michel, an if you have ever taken the coast road from St. Malo towards Mont St. Michel, you will realise that Oyster farming is big business !

There are two types of oyster which are readily available, the main one being the Gigas, also known as Rock Oyster, or Pacific Oyster. These have a narrow, deep shell, and the pic at the top of this page is a gigas.

The other is the Edulis, or native oyster, so called because it is our indiginous species. They are quite different in appearance, having a round, much flatter shell. The French call them Belon.. or Plat. These oysters take longer to grow, and attract a premium price. The flavour is also quite different, and it is our preferred oyster when we can get them.

Anyway, enough of this procrastination. We are supposed to be a recipe site, and we are sure you wil be able to find lots more information about history, farming methods etc. elsewhere.