Day 54: Virginica Oyster

A really uber fresh oyster, a milky texture, absolutely full of meat. The flavour held up on its own enough to stand a habanero hot sauce on it. Loved it.

On Virginica Oysters (from dianasseafood.com):

Virginica oysters are raised in two different Washington locations, southern Puget Sound’s Totten Inlet and and northern Puget Sound’s Samish Bay. They are unique in that they are the first eastern oysters to be grown commercially in Washington state since the early 1900’s, when a large quantity were grown in Willapa Bay for the oyster hungry San Francisco market. Virginicas take three to five years to reach three and one half inches, which is the size at which the cup has fully developed. They have an attractive and clean pear shape, and the shells are quite smooth, lacking the sharp flutes common to pacific oysters. Their flavor begins fairly saltly, then goes very sweet for an eastern species, and ends with a mild mineral like finish.