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Very few foods can claim a history like that of oysters. They have been harvested and consumed since Roman times, are believed to have aphrodisiacal powers, and have managed to be classified as both peasant food and haute cuisine.

In the United States, oysters were street food as recently as the 19th century, sold at stalls in New York and given away at San Francisco bars during the Gold Rush. This unchecked consumption came at a cost: Overfishing led to near-extinction on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Today, the coastal flats and reefs where oysters grow are much more judiciously harvested. Their relative scarcity—Americans eat roughly 2.5 billion oysters every year, according to the Molluscan Shellfish Institute of North America—and the cost of transporting the live seafood around the country means prices of $2 or $3 per piece are common at upscale raw bars.

What makes them so popular? In brief: the taste. Just as the geography, soil, and climate of a vineyard gives a distinct flavor to the resulting wine, oysters can be very salty or sweet, with notes of cucumber, melon, herbs, butter, flint, or copper, all depending on the water in which they grew.

With our expert tips, you can keep oyster eating from feeling like a shell game.  


The Lineup
There are five main varieties of edible oysters.

Belons, salty and often metallic in taste, are native to Europe but now grow in North American waters, too. Relatively rare, they command a premium at fish markets and restaurants.

Eastern oysters, including Bluepoints, Wellfleets, and Malpaques, grow from the Canadian Maritimes down to the Gulf of Mexico. Many restaurants that specialize in oysters don’t serve Gulf oysters raw, however, because naturally occurring bacteria is at higher levels in those warmer waters.
    
Pacific, or gigas, oysters are grown throughout the world. Varieties include Hama Hamas, Shoalwaters, Hog Island, and many others. They are generally sweet, with melon, cucumber, or mineral nuances.

Kumamoto oysters originally came from Japan but are now grown along the western coast of North America. Kumamotos are approachable because of their smaller size and sweet, mild flavor, says Jeremy Anderson, executive chef at Elliott’s Oyster House in Seattle.

Olympia oysters are native to the Pacific Northwest. Their small size, with meat often only the size of a quarter, belies their assertive flavor. It’s rare to run across them outside of their home turf.

Farmed Versus Wild
Oysters are both farmed and harvested wild. But you’re not likely to see the distinction on a menu unless the location of a wild bed makes harvesting more difficult—and therefore more expensive. For instance, wild belon oysters that have to be hand-harvested by scuba divers command a premium, says Michael Garvey, general manager of New York’s Grand Central Oyster Bar.

Size Doesn’t Matter
Most of the oysters served in restaurants range from half-dollar-size to palm-size. The size is mainly a function of species, and has no bearing on quality or taste. Where it matters is in the eating; most oysters are one-bite affairs, but larger ones like Bluepoints are better tackled with a knife and fork—or avoided if you don’t feel up to swallowing their bulk.