{"id":18245,"date":"2023-05-15T20:43:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T20:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/15\/the-best-oysters-you-can-buy-are-probably-online\/"},"modified":"2023-05-15T20:43:09","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T20:43:09","slug":"the-best-oysters-you-can-buy-are-probably-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/15\/the-best-oysters-you-can-buy-are-probably-online\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Oysters You Can Buy Are Probably Online"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A few weeks ago, I shucked 50 oysters. It wasn\u2019t in a restaurant kitchen\u2014in the past, this would\u2019ve been an hour\u2019s work on any Thursday\u2014or part of recipe testing in the Food52 office, but at my friend Nick\u2019s apartment. And unlike all the other oysters I\u2019ve shucked, these weren\u2019t purchased from a fish market or restaurant distributor\u2014they were bought online and shipped directly to his Brooklyn apartment. They were also absolutely delicious.<\/p>\n

The day prior, the oysters I shucked\u2014plus the other 50 that Nick ordered and opened himself\u2014sat along the bottom of the Long Island Sound, roughly 50 miles away from his apartment. As someone who loves oysters, but is naturally skeptical of ordering shellfish online, I was curious: How the hell did these get here, and how are they so perfect?<\/p>\n

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Photo by Paul Hagopian<\/span>
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The oysters came from Copps Island<\/a>, a fourth-generation, family-owned oystering company based in Norwalk, Connecticut. On their website, you can buy 100 oysters that are \u201ccaught and shipped on the same day<\/a>\u201d for $70, plus shipping. According to Jimmy Bloom, captain and owner of Copps Island, the order process is designed to ensure customers are receiving the highest quality shellfish. \u201cOysters come right out of the water and are put directly into \u2018ice down\u2019 tanks,\u201d he says. \u201cWe get an order that comes in online, they’re immediately packaged into a styrofoam cooler with ice packs, and they ship overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its thoughtful process, online sales are only a small part of Copps Island\u2019s business. Like most oyster companies, the majority of their revenue comes through wholesale distribution. For Copps, this means sending truckloads of oysters to distributors in Boston and New York\u2014that are then sold to fish markets, restaurants, and bars\u2014every day. Per Jimmy, because of packaging and shipping costs, online sales are \u201creally not a money maker for [them].\u201d<\/p>\n

However, this isn\u2019t always the case. Island Creek Oysters<\/a>\u2014a slightly larger operation based in Duxbury, Massachusetts\u2014doesn\u2019t work with wholesalers. They prefer to handle the process themselves. \u201cOur business model is somewhat unique in that we ship all of our stuff direct to chefs and restaurants,\u201d says Island Creek CEO, Chris Sherman. Although the bulk of the business comes from restaurants, Island Creek also sells oysters for household consumption on their website. According to Chris, the packaging and delivery process is nearly identical, regardless of location. \u201c[If you\u2019re] ordering oysters in Chicago for your apartment because you’re having a dinner party, you’re getting more or less the same exact shipment that a chef in Chicago at a restaurant right down the street is getting,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

While Chris admits that the packages may differ in size, the materials are always the same. The biggest development they\u2019ve had recently? Saying goodbye to styrofoam. \u201cWe’re now working with 100 percent recyclable insulation for the packaging,\u201d he says. \u201cThe recyclable liner just kind of folds up and you can put it in your recycling bin as opposed to having to deal with the big [styrofoam] box.\u201d Further, every package includes cold, food-safe gel packs and a time-temperature indicator (TTI) that shows whether the oysters\u2019 temperature has been compromised during overnight shipping.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Island Creek Oysters<\/span>
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Beyond what\u2019s grown in Duxbury, Island Creek also sells oysters from the smaller farms they\u2019ve partnered with along the East Coast. According to Chris, in one year they\u2019ll work with roughly 200 small farmers, most of which are located in New England and Maritime Canada. Island Creek has long-standing relationships with most of the farmers they work with, however, when they do bring on a new partner, there are a few things Chris\u2019 team wants to see. \u201cWe’re looking for a uniform call, really nice healthy meat, and a shell that is full of meat,\u201d he says. \u201cYou don’t want to shuck it open and have that Ziploc-bag-full-of-water look going.\u201d Additionally, they want to know how the growers work interpersonally\u2014the things you wouldn\u2019t see on their website or Instagram profile: how easy they are to work with, how consistent they are, and whether or not they actually show up for the truck.<\/p>\n

To ensure that oysters from other farms remain of high quality, Island Creek runs trucks daily throughout the Northeast, linking small farms to its own shipment centers around Boston and New York City. While the sprawling logistical network is complex and surely demanding, for Chris there\u2019s no other option. \u201cWe go and find these people. We have to be there for them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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These efforts benefit all parties involved, especially the consumer. Similar to wine<\/a>, an oyster\u2019s flavor and shape is dictated by its immediate environment. This means each of Island Creek\u2019s partnering farms produces products truly unique to them. For example, in Duxbury, the water is high in salinity, so those oysters have a \u201ccomplex, saline flavor<\/a>.\u201d By partnering with many farms in different areas, Island Creek can easily introduce its customers to flavors they likely would never experience otherwise.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Island Creek Oysters<\/span>
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An oyster\u2019s relationship with its surrounding water has positive environmental impacts as well. Oysters\u2014like most shellfish<\/a>\u2014are filter feeders, meaning they eat the particles and nutrients floating around them, while filtering and cleaning water in the process. In the right conditions, a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. Moreover, oysters improve a shoreline\u2019s resilience<\/a> by stabilizing its surrounding sediments and protecting against potentially harmful erosion. For these reasons, oysters have been implemented as a natural solution for ecosystem protection and restoration in initiatives like New York City\u2019s Billion Oyster Project<\/a>. It\u2019s worth acknowledging that direct-to-consumer oysters are not free of environmental harm. Overnight shipping can require packages to be hurriedly shipped by plane, which can produce up to eight times more carbon emissions<\/a> than standard shipping.<\/p>\n

The promotion of smaller farms has far-reaching, positive economic implications. According to Chris, the benefit for farmers is immediate: \u201cGetting those people paid helps create stronger, healthier coastal communities.\u201d Meanwhile for Jimmy, the success of newer, smaller farmers is a tide that truly raises all boats. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the market and makes oysters more popular,\u201d he says. \u201cNow there\u2019s more people eating [oysters] and more restaurants serving them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Above anything else, at the very core of both Chris and Jimmy\u2019s operations lies an unwavering commitment to getting oysters into the hands of the people who want them. For Jimmy and the team at Copps Island, this includes shipping oysters as far as Hawaii\u2014something they\u2019ve done before. At Island Creek, this means overcoming inconvenience for the happiness of the customer, \u201cEarly winter is honestly the absolute best time of year to be eating any type of seafood. But people want [oysters] in July and August and that’s what we do. We get them to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n The Sparkling Jewish History of Dr. Brown\u2019s Soda
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