If you’ve never tried Raw Oysters on the Half Shell, you really are missing out on a delicacy that’s also an aphrodisiac!

My Experience:

When I was young, and up to this day, my mother would always put out smoked oysters on special days, when we ate beautiful hors d’oeuvres.

I was so young that I don’t even think I really knew what they were…They were just delicious, little, smoky, brown “things”…

Now, the first time I ever remember fresh, raw oysters was when I was about 7 yrs old, and my parents and I went on vacation to Fort Meyers, Florida.

There was a little place at the end of a wharf on the ocean, where they ordered buckets of freshly caught, boiled crab legs, and plates and plates of raw, Gulf oysters. I wasn’t too sure what to think of the raw, slimy-looking gems my parents were devouring by the plateful, but I did try one…with lemon squeezed on top of it…They were just “okay”, so I stuck with the crab legs.

Now that I am “all-grown up”, I thoroughly enjoy the experience of eating freshly shucked, raw oysters on the half-shell! Yum! Plus, you “kinda feel like a rebel” eating raw oysters…LOL…Smoked oysters are still a favorite in our household, and are always served on New Year’s for certain!

Today, raw oysters are safer to eat than ever! About 10% of the U.S. market’s oysters go under strict post-harvest processing to allow you to eat the oyster raw, but with added safety…This 10% will gradually increase to include more oysters being processed for safety.

Techniques of freezing (IQF), heat-cool pasteurization (HCP), and high-hydrostatic processing (HHP) all allow “at risk” consumers to enjoy oysters with a reduced risk of Vibrio vulnificus illness.

All-in-all, I take most opportunities to eat raw oysters on the 1/2 shell! Don’t knock it until you try it!

Raw oysters on the half shell are great with lemon squeezed on top, or the Louisiana way…with hot sauce!