The Oyster Guide

Grown by Scott Brown at the northern extreme of Cape Breton Island, these are very unusual oysters. The four-inch emerald shells are almost clamlike in appearance: spade-shaped, smooth, rock-hard, and oddly symmetrical for an oyster—it can be hard to tell which is the “flat” side. I don’t know how you get shells like these, but I know it doesn’t happen quickly; Cape Norths can be eight years old at harvest. They are briny, as you’d expect coming from a spot sticking out into the North Atlantic, very meaty, and otherwise light in flavor.