Irish oyster tasting

Irish oyster tasting

 

Irish oyster tasting

wild native flat oyster

wild native flat oyster

 

On the west coast of Ireland, in the different bays, there are many oyster farms, on my weekly seafood order, I tried different ones, but hard to decide what is the difference and which is best. The only way is to order them and have a tasting together.

A couple of observations:

1. The wild native flat oyster is never big,  usually like a N3 oyster size, being not too big, has a delicate feel when eating it. For size of N from 0-2 are too big for me.

2. Oysters farmed in the same bay by different farmers have similar taste.

3. Most noticeable difference in taste in different locations is the degree of saltiness, then the finer taste of seaweed and umami.

4. In terms of texture, some are more soft and creamy, some have better balance of crunch and cream. I prefer the more crunchy ones.

5. So far the native flat oyster have the best overall score.