Oyster Trivia
Editor’s introduction: Oysters are very popular this time of year and we thought perhaps a bit of background information to further explain these incredible mollusks you are enjoying might enable you to enjoy them even more. Whether you prefer fried, baked, roasted, raw or stewed – oysters are one of the oldest and most nutritious of foods that come from the world’s oceans.
Oyster shell middens in South Africa, estimated to be 140,000 years old, prove that human harvesting of marine life predated the development of agriculture and cities.
An oyster can change its gender multiple times during its lifespan.
Most oysters are ambisexual. They begin life as males, then become females, then change back and forth multiple times.
A tiny crab called an oyster crab lives inside oyster shells.
Spiny, or thorny oysters are also known as chrysanthemum shells because of their likeness to the spiky-petaled flowers. But they’re not really oysters and are relatives of the scallop.
Chinese tradition holds that oysters can cure freckles.
Oyster are the most profitable mollusks that are farmed.
A female oyster can produce more than 100 million eggs in a single spawning.
Oyster larvae is called spat.
Only about one oyster spat in a million survives to adulthood.
At one time, oysters were America’s number one fishery product.
There are more than 400 varieties of oysters.
The oyster cracker was invented by Adam Exton, a baker in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1847 and was known as the Original Trenton Cracker (OTC) and is still produced today.
The world’s only oyster museum is located on Chincoteague Island, Virginia.
The American Indian is credited with creating the first oyster stew.
Oysters were first served commercially in the United States in 1763 when a saloon was opened in New York City in a Broad Street cellar.
In ancient Rome, oysters were so highly prized that they were sold for their weight in gold.
Ancient Greeks used oyster shells as ballots in elections.
Union Oyster House, established in Boston in 1826, claims to be the oldest restaurant in the United States.
An oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day.
Oysters Rockefeller was introduced around 1900 at Antoine’s Restaurant in New
Orleans as a nameless dish until the first customer sampled it and declared it “as
rich as Rockefeller.” Its name appeared on the menu thereafter.
In 1819, English immigrant Thomas Kensett was the first person to can oysters and other seafood, and in 1825 established a thriving cannery in Baltimore.
Depending on their makeup, pearls can be white, pink, blue, yellow, and even black.
Musician Billy Joel once worked on an oyster boat.
The only commercial fishing vessels in the United States still powered by sail are the Maryland skipjacks, sailboats that dredge for oysters.
It’s a myth regarding the seasonal safety of oysters, that is, that they should be eaten only in months with the letter “r”. About 40 percent of instances of illnesses occur from September to April, all “r” months.
Mounds of discarded oyster shells have been found during archaeological digs in ancient Rome.
The Romans were the first to create artificial oyster beds to satisfy their demand for the mollusks.
The New York legislature passed a law in 1908 restricting the use of the term Blue Point oysters to those harvested in Great South Bay on Long Island’s Suffolk County coastline.
The Wheaton Shucking Machine uses infrared light to open 60 oysters per minute.
The National Oyster Shucking Contest (since 1967) is held each October at the St. Mary’s County Oyster Festival in Maryland, and pits the best female shucker against the top male shucker for the national title.
A Chesapeake stabber is an oyster shucking knife.
