Oysters

There is something of an acquired taste when it comes to oysters. It actually took me a couple of tries to acquire it. The first time I tried an oyster prepared in any way other than as oyster stew, my mom had fried up a jar of oysters. I tried one small bite and decided that I did not like them. Years later I tried them again, surprising myself to discover that they were not as bad as I had been thinking they were. That gave me the courage to try them a third time and I decided that I really did like the things. I would never even consider eating one raw, that is just not something I could bring myself to do, but I do like the occasional serving of oysters dipped in a little egg, rolled in flour and fried.

There have been some developments in oyster processing to provide alternatives for those who do enjoy fresh raw oysters. Gulf oysters are being processed using one of three post-harvest methods: IQF, HCP and HHP.

In a bit clearer English this means that Gulf oysters are post-harvest processed by one of three methods. They might be frozen, IQF, and are typically served on the half shell. This is a processing method that has been used since 1989 to help preserve quality and taste and make the oysters more convenient to serve.

The second method of post-harvest processing, HCP, means the oysters are heat-cool pasteurized by submersion into warm water, then cold water. This method of post-harvest processing was developed in 1995 by a private firm in Louisiana.

And the third form of post-harvest processing, HHP, is high pressurization processing that while used by meat and juice industries for longer was not used in processing oysters until 1999. Once the oysters have been cleaned, sorted for size and graded they are subjected to about 45,000 pounds per square inch of hydrostatic pressure. They are then packaged as banded or half-shell oysters.

These processes are intended to help provide a safer alternative to raw oysters for at-risk consumers.