The Oyster Guide

Nice little cocktail-sized Pacific oysters from the very northern end of the Strait of Georgia, in Desolation Sound. Quadra Islands have the cuteness of a Kusshi, with more flavor but less meat. Tray-grown from start to finish, and harvested at about two years of age, they have artsy, delicate white shells, flecked with pink and brown, and lots of baroque, ridged horns. In both coloration and ornamentation they remind me of those spiked caterpillars that turn up in the spring. The flavor hints at green apple candy, with a slight tarragon finish, but is lighter than most Pacific oysters, as you’d expect from a suspended oyster grown this far north. The cups have surprising variation for a tray-grown oyster; sometimes they are shallow and harbor almost no oyster at all.