Any way you like them

     How hungry did the first person have to be to eat the first oyster?  And what possessed that person to taste the gray, slimy, almost phlegmatic plump little body?  But getting past all that, there was no doubt, "a rewarding slurp of a delicate and toothy texture, rich in flavor and salty liquor," so says the National Geographic.

     Edible oysters are officially a member of the family Ostreidae, not to be confused with a entirely different species associated with cultured pearl production.  While practically all oysters and some mussels can secrete pearls, most are not valuable, however.  They are bivalve mollusks that exist in marine or brackish waters and are filter feeders.  Beginning their lifespan as males, after the first year they convert to females in the second year of life.  And a single female can produce up to 100 million eggs annually.  They mature in 12 months and can live as long as 20 years.

     While today they are considered an expensive delicacy oysters were so plentiful in the early 19th Century that they were eaten mainly by the working class.  During that time New York harbor was the largest source of oysters world wide and on any given day 6 million were available to the public, found on floating barges tied up to the city waterfront.  But due to over harvesting, disease and pollution their numbers diminished drastically.  Today the largest oyster producing body of water in the United States is the Chesapeake Bay.
 

     Oysters are considered an excellent source of zinc, iron, calcium, selenium, and vitamins A & B12.  Considered most nutritious when eaten raw they can also be prepared by smoking, boiling, baking, frying, roasting, stewing, canning, pickling, steaming and broiling.

     So how do you like your oysters?