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- Healthy water - healthy oysters…oysters are filter feeders and are
favoured for consumption freshly shucked, and eaten whole and raw. "You
are what you eat " applies especially to an oyster, so product safety
and quality is extremely important.
- World's best practice suggests that microbiological classification
of the growing area's water quality combined with strict post harvest
handling controls over temperature and storage conditions, provides
the best assurance to consumers, of product
safety and quality.
- All the Kooringal Oyster leases are in the Moreton Island Growing
Area, 20 km away from the mainland. We are not rainfall affected. Regular
water testing takes place under a program audited by AQIS, to document
the water classification status as "A Class" - i.e. approved for
harvest for direct consumption or export. This is currently one of only
three growing area on the East Coast of Australia with this classification.
Fast Food at its freshest and most nutritious
- When you buy oysters live in the shell, you are taking home one of
nature's freshest take aways - pop the top and savour the flavour.
"Oysters are more beautiful than any religion...
There's nothing in Christianity or Buddhism that quite matches the sympathetic
unselfishness of an oyster."
1 Sake (H.H Munro). 1970 - 1916
- The intertidal nature of the leases, where the oysters live a proportion
of each tide dry, contributes to excellent shelf life - an attribute
highly regarded by caterers, fish merchants, chefs and consumers.
- To maintain quality at home, live rock oysters are best kept at
8 - 10 degrees C. If kept in these conditions for a short period
(4-5 days from harvest), the oysters will plump up in the shell, as
they hold a quantity of water on board when harvested. Under ideal conditions
rock oysters are known to stay alive up to 2 weeks from harvest. (You
need to be strong willed to wait that long to eat them, and their condition
will be compromised as they use up stored body fat to stay alive). After
they have been shucked, they should be refrigerated at normal (4 degree
C) food storage temperature.
- We ship oysters, live in the shell, direct from the farm.
The information provided with each batch, includes growing area location,
date of harvest, water salinity at harvest, water temperature, and ambient
temperature range at harvest.
"Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open."
1 William Shakespeare,
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shucking
Shuck: To remove, shell, throw or strip off. The art
of revealing the tender mysteries of oysters.
A fishing glove or garden glove will protect your hands.
Use a sharp oyster knife, available from either tackle shops or table/kitchenware
departments.
There is some debate as to which end to attack from -
try both - whichever you find easier. For our oysters we recommend the
hinge end.
| Place oyster on a wooden block, or hold firmly in hand,
and force knifepoint into either the hinge, or the fringe. |
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| Twist the blade to release the oysters lid. |
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| Slide the knife close to the shell, |
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| to detach the strong muscle, which holds the cup and
lid together. |
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| Oysters are traditionally cut, |
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| and turned for presentation of the creamy sack side
up in the shell. |
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