How does oysters look

The freshest oysters are likely to be local varieties , Proto says. But, as people say, don't go to a steakhouse and order the fish-ask yourself where you are and consider the locale.

In fact, oyster farming allows for many streamlined processes that make farmed oysters much safer than wild oysters that once were harvested in less than optimal conditions. Eating oysters from the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest, New England, or Canada when not in these areas doesn't mean the oysters won't be fresh. Beyond choosing local varieties, Proto says there are a few ways you can instantly grade an oyster when it's served to you-no matter how far it had to travel to reach your plate.

Before eating an oyster, you should pick it up and take a sniff: The smell should be "like the ocean breeze," Proto says, and they should feel ice cold to the touch. If they feel warm or if they give off an odor that makes you recoil , that's a major red flag.

Inspect the bottom of the shell for broken or damaged areas, as this outward sign of trauma could mean the oyster was damaged in transit. To help shed some light, here are 10 facts about these molluscs. NYC used to be the place to eat oysters When the Dutch first arrived in Manhattan during the 17 th century, the island was covered in oyster beds, and oysters were a treat they, as well as the native population of Lenape Indians, thoroughly enjoyed. As more settlers came in and New York grew as a city, so did the consumption of this popular mollusc.

By the 19 th century, the oyster beds found in New York Harbor were the largest source of these creatures worldwide. In the city itself you could get raw oysters from street vendors or go to what was called an oyster saloon and find oysters cooked in all sorts of ways including scalloped, fried, dipped in butter, pan roasted and made into a stew. Unfortunately, this obsession with the mollusc caused mass destruction to the oyster beds, and they were all but wiped out.

Today, there has been a strong push to revitalize the native oysters, though the days of having the streets of Manhattan glistening with shells is long gone. Oysters have many health benefits Before you take this statement too far — no, you will not get turned on by eating an oyster. However, this sexy bivalve packs a wallop of zinc, which is great for making you feel good and keeping up your energy.

Not only does the zinc boost your sex drive, but it also ups your immune system, helps get rid of acne, eases rashes and makes your bones stronger. Well, starches are long chains of sugar molecules. Glycogen is made from glucose—the same kind of sugar we use in our muscles for energy. So while glycogen itself is tasteless, it can be broken down so that its glucose molecules fit snugly onto our taste buds that detect sugar.

The question is this: How much time does it take? If you have an oyster fat with glycogen, and you chew a lot, you can get some real sweetness. But chewing an oyster twenty or thirty times is kind of like brushing your teeth for five minutes—it may sound like a good idea, but few of us are willing to do it. A second source of sweetness in oysters may be glycine, the substance that gives shrimp and crab its sweetness.

We may even have separate taste receptors for it. An oyster stores food in two ways. An oyster in December will be at its fattest, and then will slowly thin through the winter as it lives off its reserves. By April, it is pretty thin. But then the water warms up and swollen rivers pour nutrients into the estuaries, fueling the spring algae blooms.

The oyster feeds again, but this time, instead of storing its food as glycogen, it stores much of it as lipids—fat—which is necessary for producing sperm or eggs.

Some people like the taste of a spawny Eastern oyster. Nobody can stomach a spawny Pacific. Depending on the warmth of the water and the type of oyster, spawning can take place anywhere from May to August. In the Gulf of Mexico and other points south, where cold water is not an issue, and where there is plenty of plankton year-round, oysters never go dormant. They will often spawn in sporadic trickles over months, rather than in a single spurt.

When an oyster is full of glycogen and lipids, it looks plump and creamy white or ivory. It will taste firm, springy, and delicious. Transparency is a sign of a lack of glycogen—either it recently spawned or it just survived a long winter. At that time, it will taste like little more than a bag of saltwater. Prick a spawny oyster and its liquid will look milky.

Eat a spawny oyster and it will burst in your mouth like a greasy raw egg yolk. On rare occasions, the water an oyster feeds on is so dense with a particular algae that it turns the oyster liquor blue, green, red, even gold. The enlightened ostreaphile, however, knows that the famous Marenne oysters of France are finished in shallow saltwater basins dense with a blue navicule algae that turns their liquor and their mantles green and gives them a singularly rich flavor.

If you are French and you get a green or gold oyster, you squeeze yourself for joy, thank the gastronomic gods for delivering such a prize, and dig in. If you are American, you call the HazMat squad. A post shared by Christophe Dittrich c. Not everyone prefers the algae-plumped oysters of spring and fall. A cadre of contrarians favor thin ones. What Rodgers may be responding to in leaner oysters is umami —a fifth category of taste, separate from the familiar quartet of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.

Umami is perhaps best described as savory. As with the other four tastes, we have taste buds specifically tuned to umami. If you love tea and tomatoes, you love umami. Free amino acids, especially glutamate, are responsible for umami.

Since amino acids are the building blocks of protein, umami tends to be found in abundance in meat and fish products that are cured, aged, dried, or otherwise abused so that their protein breaks down into its constituent amino acids.

Parmesan cheese, Prosciutto ham, and smoked salmon are umami powerhouses. So are oysters. A thin oyster may not have much sweet, starchy glycogen, but it can still have plenty of umami.

One may be minerals and metals. Ions of certain metals are known to break apart molecules in food. Similarly, cast-iron pans and clay pots have long been known to impart good flavors to certain foods.

If the oysters have already been shucked -- or removed from the shells -- before you buy them, do not eat them raw. Shucked oysters should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.

Eating raw or undercooked shellfish, like oysters, can be dangerous -- even if the oyster is fresh and healthy. Oysters harvested from warm coastal areas might be contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus or Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria.

If you become sick within a few days of consuming raw or undercooked oysters, contact your physician. Symptoms of a Vibrio infection include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, fever and skin lesions. Severe infections could lead to bloodstream infections and death.