New Brunswick
The granite and sandstone coastlines of New Brunswick make for gritty beaches and well-nestled bays that warm the cool St. Lawrence waters as the summer sun hits their shallow, sandy bottoms. For a brief stretch, water temperatures climb to swimmable levels, and oysters can spawn. There are only a few places in Eastern Canada where the water gets warm enough to support natural colonies of oysters. Caraquet Bay has been New Brunswick’s best for centuries. The two great names in Canadian oysterdom are Caraquet and Malpeque, the provinces’ answer to Bluepoint and Wellfleet. But Caraquets are not Bluepoints or Wellfleets. They are small, and that smallness is what marks New Brunswick oysters. You don’t eat New Brunswick oysters because they are big, powerful, briny, or unusual. You eat them because they are delicate and dainty and inoffensive. They are the oyster next door. They’re a cheap date, too. For half the price of more sophisticated oysters, you can get a little experience under your belt. If you haven’t been around much, and the music and mood are right, you just might fall in love.
