The Best Oyster in the World

Jul 07, 2009

The surreal greens of Colville Bay oysters, looking over the red dirt of PEI to their home in the Souris River, as captured by Brian Kingzett

This week a friend drove down a box of Johnny Flynn’s Colville Bay oysters from Prince Edward Island. I hadn’t had them in a while, and it reminded me of what I knew and had forgotten: They are, quite simply, the best oysters in the world. I mean, this was the Fourth of July, when the fireflies are great and the oysters suck. Somehow Colville Bays didn’t get the word. (Maybe Canadian oysters observe a different calendar.) They were plump, bright-flavored (their distinctive characteristic, along with their moss-green shells), and incredibly sweet. I would have pegged them for a November oyster. How can they be this good in July, when most oysters have shrunk down like a guy jumping into the frigid Northumberland Straits? I have no idea. How can you get some in the States? I have no idea. Should I be torturing you like this? I have no idea. Am I gonna do it anyway? Probably so.

Update: Had ’em again while at the PEI Shellfish Festival in September. Still the best. (As is the festival.)

Posted in New Discoveries