Oyster quality, care and storage

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The oysters you receive have come straight from the pristine waters of Coffin Bay and once removed from the water close up and remain that way until either returned to the sea water, opened or if left for too long will die. You are receiving a fresh self sealed live oyster.

Quality

Coffin Bay has developed an excellent reputation around Australia for producing the finest quality oysters which is mainly due to the clean pristine waters of this wonderful area.

Surrounded by National Parks the water maintains a high level of natural food and minimal pollution which culminates in excellent size flavour and appearance in both the content and the shell.

Care and storage

Oysters have an aductor muscle that tightly shuts the oyster the moment it is removed from the water and it is this muscle that needs to be severed when shucking to open the oyster.

Storage in an esky

Unless you are going to eat your oysters straight away, it is better to buy them unopened and with the proper care, oysters will live for 3-4 days in an esky placed in shade and covered with a damp cloth.

When putting oysters in an esky be careful not to allow them to submerge into the water from the melted ice, this will prompt them to open, drown and therefore shorten the time that you can keep them. It's best to use gel packs rather than ice.

The temperature of the water from which they came is perfect. Keeping them at about 2 degrees is good, but they will tolerate it up to 15 degrees. This way, they will remain alive and retain their package of delicious juice.

Refrigeration

You can refrigerate your oysters however generally your standard domestic fridge is too cold which ultimately kills the oyster however it still is a suitable method to keep your oysters.

Fresh Oysters are best stored at between 2-10 degree celcius.

Freezing

They can be quite easily frozen and provided they are thawed out correctly little of the flavour and texture is lost.

Oysters are quite a tough shellfish and will tolerate considerable variation in temperature however we recommend that once you have received your order you either refrigerate or freeze them.